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26 April 2024

The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

Have you ever thought about what having an address means? Or not having it? When most people, and especially mail lovers, think about street addresses, it is in their capacity to ensure that the postman can deliver mail.
 
The Address Book takes this apparently banal topic and makes you aware of how big it is. Addresses were not invented to help you find your way: they were created to find you. And believe it or not, they reveal more than you think about you. There are complex and fascinating stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who does not, and why.

4 comments:

  1. A very interesting book and actual topic. Here in the Netherlands the colonial past provided some controversial street names, and ‘of course’ many streets are named after members of the royal family (of whom one - the late husband of late queen Juliana - has proofed to be a bad person in several ways)…

    The good thing in my city is that some streets have been named after trees (which I always like) and also streets named after female authors (like Belle van Zuylen, Bertha von Suttner, Betje Wolff and Aagje Deken)

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    1. The book covers that topic, too. Streets named after people are always troublesome.

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  2. I always enjoy covers and postcards with addresses on especially if a house has a name rather than a number. Recent examples of 'Windy Nook' and randomly 'Running Water Filling Station' spring to mind.

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    1. Those names sound very special. My address has been always important to me, and I tried to learn about all the addresses I have had. The book brings up a lot of interesting ideas about.

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