Lewis Mumford and Patrick Geddes: The Correspondence

Lewis Mumford and Patrick Geddestraces the astonishing correspondence between two of our century's greatest thinkers on Western civilization. Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) was the versatile New York cultural critic who is renowned for his writing on architecture, the city, technology and human values. Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) was the Scottish biologist, sociologist, city planner and "professor of things in general." Geddes' letters reflect his vast learning, humor, generosity and zest for life. Mumford's elegantly written letters are particularly important for what they reveal about his intellectual and literary coming-of-age, as well as the profound influence Geddes had on him. Frank G. Novak has meticulously collected and edited all the existing letters exchanged by the two men, as well as much previously unpublished material. The correspondence also depicts a complex psychological relationship that linked two very independent and ambitious personalities whose association had asad, if