New Review of "Our Own Day Here"

The best-written and most perceptive review of my collection of essays on urban culture has just appeared on Amazon, and I hope you will all read it and develop an irresistible urge to buy the book. It’s by John Huan Vu, and you can read it at:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1HGX5FPTHMIP3/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1312754605

Or just scroll down here:

"Los Angeles, having embraced the private car and suburbs since the mid 1950s, is seeking a more urban future. Rick Risemberg's essays capture this moment well. Risemberg has been front and center as an advocate of a denser city built around public transit and active transportation (walking and bicycling), and his writing is a convincing, often poetic endorsement for what he deems to be the best fit for the creative and cooperative nature of human beings. There is a wistful tone to some of the essays but also a robust attack on many of common ideas of what the city is and isn't.

While cities are often seen as a foil versus nature, Risemberg argues that the city actually allows people greater exposure to the outdoors than the suburbs. Even the simple act of walking to your home from a bus or train stop connects you to the earth and to other people in a way that driving door-to-door cannot. To break down another popular dichotomy, Risemberg declares that "America's small-town values live on in her cities." Anyone paying attention to the numbers can see a trend toward renewed urbanization, and Risemberg details just why this is happening.

While most of Risemberg's essays are about urbanism, there are a few about politics, among them a story about what happens the workers at a left-leaning coffeeshop consider a strike and a funny parable about bad sailing boat captains. Risemberg connects politics to urbanism: Good public spaces like those in a city connect people and provide a forum for protest. Despite the city's association with authority in the popular imagination, entrenched power does not truly like the city. Risemberg avoids partisan cliches and and his critiques of authority might resonate well with some conservatives and libertarians.

A nice fast read and a must for those interested in urbanism and urban planning or a new perspective on Los Angeles."

The book’s available on Amazon, as is inevitable these days, but also on the smaller, less-hegemonistic sites listed below:

Paperback at Lulu:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rickrise

E-book at:
Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/our-own-day-here-richard-risemberg/1120171942?ean=2940046087925

Apple’s iBooks:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/our-own-day-here/id908720311?mt=11

Smashwords (who actually created the e-book version):
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/464451

Kobo:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/our-own-day-here

Paperback or e-book at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFT1US0

Cheers!

Rick
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Richard Risemberg
[email protected]
323-428-4669