The book is structured into three parts covering urban identity, waterfront work, and radicalism, each broken down into chapters and sub-sections focusing on the three chosen cities. ... people interested in ports and their industries and workforces, urban planners and museum administrators will find Mah's book useful. (Chris Madsen, The Northern Mariner, Vol. 26 (1), March, 2016)
Here is a book likely to delight sociologists and historians as well as specialists in urban studies, i.e. those open to the intellectual adventures entailed by the criss-crossing of disciplines; a book to be placed in the hands of postgraduate and indeed doctoral students willing to enrich their thinking repertoire; a book that might even appeal to the general reader, as it is full of references to popular culture, from Neil Young to the TV series Treme. (Yann Beliard, Urban Studies, Vol. 53 (1), January, 2016)
In this compelling study of three port cities, Mah attempts to trace the global legacy of dockworkers' trade union movements. ... this is a thought-provoking study. ... for the reader who wants a snapshot of current conditions in these three port cities, this book is good place to start. (Colin Davis, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 27 (4), November, 2015)
What becomes of once-preeminent world harbors when a new global age relegates them to the minor leagues of seaports? In this rich and imaginative joining of Liverpool, Marseille, and New Orleans, two mere shadows of their former glories, a third a troubled giant, Alice Mah ranges across waterfront developments, museum projects, crime stories, and traditions of radical action to capture their quest for a return to greatness amidst the need to confront a conflicted past and a dubious future. - Michael B. Miller, Professor of History, University of Miami, USA
Transformation along waterfronts in port cities has been analysed through many case studies. This book offers a new comparative and cross-disciplinary approach. It focuses on how labour can create a specific port identity and provide new perspectives of transformation, which can include heritage for developing a more modern image for port cities in the future. - Dirk Schubert, Professor of Urban Planning, HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany
Alice Mah's sensitively written and deftly researched study explores Liverpool, Marseille and New Orleans as these port cities of 'the first global age' face the complex challenges of redevelopment, restructuring and recovery. Moving between the realms of cultural representation, histories of labour solidarity and struggle, and contested futures, the book traces the tangled lines that lead from legacies of empire, colonialism and slavery, through decline and ruination to a new urban politics of hope. - Fran Tonkiss, Director, Cities Programme, London School of Economics, UK