"Triumph of Order: Democracy and Public Space in New York and London" book discussion and Q&A December 2, 2009

Lisa Keller, author and history professor at Purchase College, will hold a book talk on December 2 at the New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Branch to discuss her new book, “Triumph of Order: Democracy and Public Space in New York and London.” There will be a Q&A following the book discussion.

Book synopsis:
Lisa Keller, author and History Professor at SUNY Purchase, suggests in her new book that in New York City the scales may be tipping toward less liberty and more order. The provocative book forces us to reconsider our priorities as the British and American governments use the excuse of both terror and traffic to resist even the possibility of public expression in public places. The book examines how urban environments were created where residents work, live and prosper with minimal disruption.  New York and London established a network of laws, policing, and municipal government in the nineteenth century aimed at building the confidence of the citizenry and creating stability for economic growth.  At the same time these two world cities attempted to maintain an expansive level of free speech and assembly, concepts deeply ingrained in both national cultures.  As democracy expanded in tandem with the size of the cities themselves, the two goals clashed, resulting in tensions over their compatibility.

The results of this clash continue to resonate in our society today. Treating nineteenth-century London and New York as case studies, Lisa Keller examines the critical development of sanctioned free speech, controlled public assembly, new urban regulations, and the quelling of riots, all in the name of a proper regard for order.
Dividing her history into five categories—cities, police and militia, the public, free speech and assembly, and the law—Keller concludes with an assessment of freedom in these cities today and asks whether the scales have been tipped too strongly on the side of order and control.

Public officials increasingly use permits, fees, and bureaucratic hassles to frustrate the ability of reformers and protesters to make their voices heard, and by doing so, she argues, they strike at the very foundations of democracy