Blog Post #9

In “Buying into Downtown Revival: The Centrality of Retail to Postwar Urban Renewal in American Cities,” author Lizabeth Cohen mainly discusses the main argument that consumption and civic engagement are important factors in local and national history. She discusses the power of the retail market and department stores in general, especially in the New Haven, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts areas. Today, department stores are decreasing, and they are not a huge sect of our economy. However, in the 1940s, they were huge. Gimbel’s Department Store greatly affected the economy and culture in both Philadelphia and New York City.

In “Changing Continuity of the South,” author David Goldfield discusses the drastic changes the South between 1940 and 1980, mostly economically. Goldfield explains how his state of North Carolina is known for its higher education institutions, Research Triangle Park, and a national banking center. This shows how one state alone became a large technological and economic advancement in the nation. In 1938, a report came out saying that the South was the “Nation’s No. 1 Economic Problem,” however Goldfield argues that since this article came out the South has made great change and progress.