Death and Life of Great American Cities Suggested for Canada Reads

Readers of CBC Books have chosen 40 non-fiction works they’d like to see compete in next February’s edition of Canada Reads: True Stories CBC’s annual book debate.  Jane Jacob’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities is one of them.

Other writers on the list include Farley Mowat, Wayne Johnston, M.G. Vassanji, Pierre Berton and Margaret MacMillan. Two of Vancouver writer John Vaillant’s books have been nominated: The Golden Spruce and The Tiger.

Over the past few weeks, avid readers have suggested titles online at CBC Books. Readers must now shorten the list to 10 books, with online voting open until midnight on Oct. 30. Then, the participating celebrity panelists will choose books from the list that most appeal to them for discussion during Canada Reads: True Stories. The upcoming edition is the first time Canada Reads has considered Canadian non-fiction books.

While there are a lot of worthwhile and important books on the list, my fingers are crossed that Jacobs’s book ends up winning.  It is an important book for everybody living in a city to read (and over 85% of Canadian now live in urban areas. But perhaps most importantly, honoring this book would be a fitting celebration of the 50th anniversary of its publication this year as well as the 5th anniversary of Jane’s passing next spring.

You can check out the otehr 39 books under consideration and vote for your top ten on the CBC website.

Related articles

• CBC’s Canada Reads turns to non-fiction (cbc.ca)
• Rereading: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (guardian.co.uk)

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