There are many ways to tell the history of a city—through its architecture, its local politics, its waves of immigration, even its rats. In a new volume, Don Mitchell, an emeritus professor of geography at Syracuse University, uses a unique lens to chronicle New York City through the centuries: its protests.
Revolting New York: How 400 Years of Riot, Rebellion, Uprising, and Revolution Shaped a City spans the era of Dutch colonization to Trump’s inauguration, and argues that protests are not merely destructive, but are also productive. “We often think of riots as moments of extreme violence that destroy, but they produce new worlds,” said Mitchell, who co-edited the volume with the late geographer Neil Smith. “This is not to advocate for urban violence, but we need to pay attention to riots’ shaping force, not just the havoc they wreak.”
