In 1880 George M. Pullman of sleeping-car fame commissioned a planned, model town to be constructed eight miles south of Chicago in conjunction with his new factory. A forerunner of later "garden cities," Pullman was built with the aid of architects and landscape designers. It would ba a showplace for Pullman's Palace Car Company.
A specialist in business history, American foreign policy, and the history of urban planning, Stanley Buder earned a BA from City College/CUNY, USA, and a PhD from the University of Chicago, USA. He taught at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center until his retirement as Professor Emeritus of History in 2007. He was a Senior Fulbright Professor at the National University of Singapore in 1999.
No exactly a page-turner, Pullman is an excellent study of both the idealistic company town and the man who developed it. Thorough research and well-honed writing - hallmarks of 1960s' historiography - are features of this book. Buder offers us neither heroes nor villains but rather a balanced view of the variety of the human condition.
Really interesting subject matter. But written too much like a textbook. If Steven Puleo or Sebastian Junger had written it, it would have been a best seller.