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03250aam a22004098i 4500 001 747201B22A1311EFB7D7D6B645ECA4DB 003 SILO 005 20240614010030 008 240612s2024 ilua e 001 0 eng 010 $a 2023040934 020 $a 0226820726 020 $a 9780226820729 035 $a (OCoLC)1405846369 040 $a ICU/DLC $b eng $e rda $c DLC $d OCLCO $d OCLCF $d OCO $d YDX $d JQA $d TMI $d IKG $d MUO $d OCLCO $d MJ8 $d OCLCO $d SILO 042 $a pcc 043 $a n-us--- 082 00 $a 526.9 $2 23/eng/20231012 084 $a 526.9 $b ALE 100 1 $a Alexander, Amir, $e author. 245 10 $a Liberty's grid $h [Book] : $b a founding father, a mathematical dreamland, and the shaping of America / $c Amir Alexander. 264 1 $a Chicago : $b The University of Chicago Press, $c 2024. 300 $a 376 pages : $b illustrations ; $c 24 cm. 365 $a 01 $b 35.00 504 $a Includes bibliographical references and index. 505 0 $a A Mathematical Prologue -- Life, Liberty, and Infinite Space -- A Mathematical Empire -- Rectilinear Cities -- Making the Greatest Grid -- Anti-geometry -- Conclusion: The Chasm. 520 $a "In 1784 Thomas Jefferson presented Congress with an audacious scheme to reshape the territory of the young United States: All western lands, he proposed, would be inscribed with a titanic rectilinear grid, aligned with the points of the compass. Why did the author of the Declaration of Independence set out to transform the landscape of North America into an abstract mathematical dreamland? Historian and writer Amir Alexander compellingly argues that Jefferson saw the Cartesian grid not as a pattern of practical utility for dividing land, but as a plan redolent with philosophical and political meaning. Following Newton and Locke, he viewed mathematical space as a blank slate on which anything is possible, and where Americans, acting freely, could find liberty. And if the real, actual America, with its diverse landscapes and rich human history did not match his ideal of the blank slate land, then it must be made to match it. When Congress endorsed Jefferson's vision, it set off a struggle over American space that has not subsided since. From the halls of Congress to the open prairies, and from the fight against George III to the Trail of Tears, Liberty's Grid tells the story of the continuing battle between grid-makers and their opponents. On the one side are the rectilinear streets of Manhattan and the squared corn fields of Kansas, on the other the curvy paths of Central Park and the cliffs of Yosemite Valley. To grid creators, America appears a land of limitless freedom; to those beholden to the rhythms of nature and history, the naturalistic is an escape from moral collapse. Their conflict, Alexander shows, is written on our landscape"-- $c Provided by publisher. 600 10 $a Jefferson, Thomas, $d 1743-1826. 650 0 $a Grids (Cartography) 650 0 $a Grid plans (City planning) 650 0 $a Mathematical geography. 650 0 $a Cartography. 655 7 $a Informational works. $2 lcgft 655 7 $a Atlases. 941 $a 1 952 $l KSPG296 $d 20240614011427.0 956 $a http://locator.silo.lib.ia.us/search.cgi?index_0=id&term_0=747201B22A1311EFB7D7D6B645ECA4DB 994 $a Z0 $b BUPInitiate Another SILO Locator Search