Cities on the Plain

Cities on the Plain SMALL, GRITTY, AND GREEN: THE PROMISE OF AMERICA'S SMALLER INDUSTRIAL CITIES IN A LOW-CARBON WORLD BY CATHERINE TUMBER Cambridge, ma: mit press. 192 pages. $25.

"Don't laugh." It's the very first paragraph, and Catherine Tumber is already worried that we won't take her seriously. She has good reason, since the thesis of her new book is that small Rust Belt cities can help all of us turn green.

It's a bold and hopeful thesis, but also a tough sell. After all, as Tumber notes at the outset of Small, Gritty, and Green, debates about urban issues have long been dominated by big-city people who tend to disparage or ignore the dull, diminutive towns scattered …