Urban Green: Nature, Recreation, and the Working Class in Industrial Chicago. By Colin Fisher

Abstract

Urban Green: Nature, Recreation, and the Working Class in Industrial Chicago . By Colin Fisher. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. xv + 232 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. $29.95, paper.) Colin Fisher has shifted the focus of working-class, African American, and ethnic engagement with the city and its varied pleasures from nightlife and commercial recreation to the pursuit and enjoyment of nature. As he amply illustrates, the interaction of immigrants, blacks, and working-class whites with nature was not solely bound by work. Instead, members of these groups sought open spaces within city limits and seemingly natural places outside of the metropolis. Understanding the interactions of these groups with the natural world, however limited the available green space, Fisher … pmooney{at}luc.edu