The Horse in the City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century (Animals, History, Culture)

I use the stats in this book in my university classes to offer a different perspective of horses in our society. It was great to read something from a historical perspective. They may not be horse people as other reviewers point out, but that didn't detract (as a professional horse person). Do the calculation for how much they paid in today's dollars for a Percheron stallion.Percheron stallions 1850s imported from France. Good stallion could cost up to $10K then which is about $300K in todays dollars. That's stuff you don't find in other books

I am knowledgeable about both history and horses and this book was fascinating. The authors, who it appears are not horsemen themselves, are correct in their premise that equine contributions are often vastly ignored or under appreciated when considering their impact on key events or periods in human history. In my lifetime, I've read almost everything I could get my hands on about the care of horses and other livestock, yet I learned from this book. I loved it. I imagine it's a little dry if you are not as fascinated by the ages of horse power as I am, but if you are, this is a treasure trove. It raised some interesting points. For example, while we often tend to think of the plight of work horses in terms of Black Beauty, this book points out that their usefulness has made horses perhaps one of the most successful species on the planet. Yes, individuals have suffered greatly but the species has prospered beyond belief -- at least in evolutionary terms. As someone who has cleaned 60 stalls in one day and thought that task Aegean, it was mind boggling to read of the thousand stall stables that existed in some U.S. cities... I can't even imagine... Anyone, from a student of history to a trainer of horses, who wants to understand the role that horses have fulfilled and hopefully will continue to fulfill in human civilizations, would likely enjoy this book.

The authors may be scholars of American urban life, but it's clear they are not horsemen. While I found their research into the lives of horses in the cities interesting, I found some of their terminology disturbing and inaccurate. For example, at the opening of chapter six, they state, "they can consume grasses of lower quality than any other ruminant and a lower volume of food than any other large mammal." Horses are not ruminants; they are ungulates. Remove the word "other" and the sentence reads all right.In Chapter Four, "The Horse in Leisure", the authors note a claim made Paul Shepard that "horses are inherently sensual objects because of their sleek coats and body curves and because of the genital stimulation experienced when riding". If Mr Shepard experiences genital stimulation while riding, he's doing it wrong. I would, however, agree that horse's sleek coats and curves are most attractive.It's a good read for anyone who wants to know how horses contributed to the development of the big cities, particularly the East Coast and Chicago. I had no idea that Chicago was such a hub of horse dealing,The development of bigger and better horse-drawn farm equipment was fascinating, as was the evolution of transportation in the city. I wish the authors had gone into more detail about some other horse-drawn machines, such as the "horse whim" on the front cover. More photographs of these amazing contraptions would have been welcome.

`The Horse in the City" by Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr This is a scholarly and interesting examination of the era when horses were the primary source of power - the "prime movers" - in our largest cities. It shows how The Horse worked itself out of its' roles and impacts in the cities in the span of less than a century. ... from shortly before the Civil War to shortly after WW I. There are plenty of dark sides to this tale. We have long referred positively to "The Industrial Revolution"and the "Modernization" of that era. This treatise will give the reader pause on that score. Our Civil War didn't bring racial equality and WW I didn't end all wars. Neither did "The Industrial Revolution" make our alabaster cities gleam. In Reality, they looked and seemed much more like the squalor of our (in)famous Indian Reservations. But then, The Industrial Revolution, the Modernization, perhaps more accurately named "The Dehumnization" , needed cheap, disposable power, and horses and immigrants, "voluntary", or not, filled the bill and we needed to put them somewhere. Though not a happy tale it is well worth reading on several counts.

For a student of the horse and its place in society, this book pulled from many resources to form a picture of our cities and mans relation with the horse up through the beginning of the last century. It is ironic that the horse was cared fot the best he had ever been just as the internal combusion engine appeared to change society forever. It was difficult to read the passages detailing the way in which the horse was commodified, purchased, used up and then discarded, but the beginnings of the various societes for prevention of cruelty were spurred by the terrible conditions under which horses labored.

Book arrived in fine shape. Very Pleased.

Disappointed there weren't more cool pics like the one on the cover. Only 2 or 3 pages with pictures/illustrations

a great book about the use and contribution of horses from pre-cival war to the end of the horse drawn era It shows the massive logistics of feeding and caring for millions of horses A great read