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Rating: 
Summary: Review for the generalist reader
Review: As mentioned in another review, this book has been set as a college textbook. I am sure it fulfils that roile admirably. However, from the point of view of the generalist reader looking for something 'meaty' on the subject of American cities, I can't really recommend it.
It is full of rather dry statistics and facts. I was particularly interested in Los Angeles, and the book did provide some very useful background information, but it left me unsatisfied - I didn't come away with a 'feel' for the city in any human sense. For a more passionate account of Los Angeles, still in a scholarly work, I can recommend 'The History of Forgetting' by Norman Klein. Please don't feel I don't think this book isn't useful within its context, but if you are looking for something scholarly yet with some passion, you may well be disappointed in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Book
Review: I assigned this book for a graduate seminar last year (2002) and it went down very well with a range of social sciences and humanities students. They loved Abu-Lughod's geographically- and historically-specific approach to understanding globalization and urban change. In contrast to some of the universalizing bombast out there in, Janet Abu-Lughod's book helps us to make sense of urban change in these three cities via the astute integration of social, economic and political dynamics at a range of scales. Abu-Lughod was able to take them down into the streets at some points, and then back up to the national and global scales at other points. To be sure there is a mass of detail in the text, but it is knitted together as well as can be given the research questions. My students also appreciated the lack of jargon in the book; a rarity these days in the urban studies field. In short, this is a fine book for students, academics, and laypersons with interests in global urbanization, the history of American cities, the role of cities in the historical development of America, and historically-oriented research methodologies.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Book
Review: I assigned this book for a graduate seminar last year (2002) and it went down very well with a range of social sciences and humanities students. They loved Abu-Lughod's geographically- and historically-specific approach to understanding globalization and urban change. In contrast to some of the universalizing bombast out there in, Janet Abu-Lughod's book helps us to make sense of urban change in these three cities via the astute integration of social, economic and political dynamics at a range of scales. Abu-Lughod was able to take them down into the streets at some points, and then back up to the national and global scales at other points. To be sure there is a mass of detail in the text, but it is knitted together as well as can be given the research questions. My students also appreciated the lack of jargon in the book; a rarity these days in the urban studies field. In short, this is a fine book for students, academics, and laypersons with interests in global urbanization, the history of American cities, the role of cities in the historical development of America, and historically-oriented research methodologies.
Rating: 
Summary: A Highly Detailed Account
Review: I enjoyed America's Global Cities and found it relatively readable and engaging. However, I have second those reviewers who described it as extremely detailed and occasionally dry. This is a scholarly and historically cogent account of New York, Chicago, and LA and their place in the context of globalization; however, it is not at all summer beach reading, even for those people who enjoy scholarly non-fiction. That said, if you have any interest in urban history and social policy, your patience will be well rewarded in reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying
Review: I find it annoying that the author includes Chicago in the same tier as NY and LA. How can the buckle of the midwest rustbelt be in the same league as the premier coastal cities? It's absurd I tell you.
Rating: 
Summary: A renowned scholar compares America's three global cities
Review: New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles-for all their differences, they are quintessentially American cities. They are also among the handful of cities on the earth that can be called "global." Janet L. Abu-Lughod's book is the first to compare them in an ambitious in-depth study that takes into account each city's unique history, following their development from their earliest days to their current status as players on the global stage. Unlike most other global cities, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles all quickly grew from the nearly blank slate of the American landscape to become important beyond the nation's borders early in their histories. As a result, Abu-Lughod is able to show the effect of globalization on each city's development from its beginnings. While all three are critical to global economics and the spread of American culture to the farthest reaches of an increasingly interlinked world, their influence reflects their individual histories and personalities. In a masterful synthesis of historical and economic information, Abu-Lughod clarifies how each city's global role is-and will be-affected by geography, ethnicity of population, political institutions, and tradition of governance. New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are more than global players: they are also home to forty million people. Abu-Lughod closes the book with a set of vignettes that captures the cities' differences as perceived by one who has lived in them. Bringing together the local and the global in thoroughly unexpected and enlightening ways, this important volume offers fascinating insight into these vital urban centers. Janet L. Abu-Lughod, professor emerita of sociology and historical studies at the New School for Social Research, has been writing about and studying cities for more than fifty years. She is the author of numerous books, including From Urban Village to East Village: The Battle for New York's Lower East Side.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much to recommend
Review: Rather than presenting a vital portrait of these cities and what makes them unique from one another, this book comes off as sterile, academic and narrowly focused. It is easy to imagine the author never having set foot in any of the cities apart from their libraries, universities and historical societies, such is her complete failure to convey the essence or spirit of the three cities. As a fairly recent resident of Chicago, I was looking for an in-depth historical account of the city that tied the past to the present and shed some light on how the city I live in today evolved. In that regard, the book disappoints considerably. It is absolutely without nuance, painting with a broad brush and seemingly already quite dated despite its published date of less than three years ago. In Chicago's case, the author repeatedly and simplistically harps on the twin themes of racial conflict and the role of the manufacturing economy, with little else to offer. The content on New York is seemingly more interesting and better balanced, though still suffering from many of the aforementioned shortcomings. All in all, not much to recommend.
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