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Awards
About the Author
Blair A. Ruble is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He previously served as the Center’s Vice President for Programs and Director of the Center’s Urban Policy Laboratory (2014-2017), as well as Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies (1989-2012), and Director of the Center’s Comparative Urban Studies Program (1992-2014). A native of New York, Dr. Ruble worked earlier at the Social Science Research Council in New York City, as well as at the National Council for Soviet and East European Research in Washington.
Among his numerous publications is the trilogy, Leningrad. Shaping a Soviet City (1990); Money Sings! The Changing Politics of Urban Space in Post-Soviet Yaroslavl (1995); and Second Metropolis: Pragmatic Pluralism in Gilded Age Chicago, Silver Age Moscow, and Meiji Osaka (2001). Other books include Creating Diversity Capital (2005); Soviet Trade Unions (2009); Washington’s U Street: A Biography (2010); and The Arts of War Ukrainian Artists Confront Russia. Year One (2023). Two recent monographs, The Muse of Urban Delirium (2017) and Proclaiming Presence from the Washington Stage (2021), appeared with New Academia Publishing.
CHANGING CITIES, SHIFTING STAGES: How the Performing Arts Reveal Urban Transformation
Blair A. RubleNew Academia Publishing, 2024
166 pages
ISBN 979-8-9900542-9-5 Paperback
See an excerpt from the book.
For BULK ORDERS, order directly from New Academia Publishing.
Queries: orders@newacademia.com
About the Author
Blair A. Ruble is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He previously served as the Center’s Vice President for Programs and Director of the Center’s Urban Policy Laboratory (2014-2017), as well as Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies (1989-2012), and Director of the Center’s Comparative Urban Studies Program (1992-2014). A native of New York, Dr. Ruble worked earlier at the Social Science Research Council in New York City, as well as at the National Council for Soviet and East European Research in Washington.
Among his numerous publications is the trilogy, Leningrad. Shaping a Soviet City (1990); Money Sings! The Changing Politics of Urban Space in Post-Soviet Yaroslavl (1995); and Second Metropolis: Pragmatic Pluralism in Gilded Age Chicago, Silver Age Moscow, and Meiji Osaka (2001). Other books include Creating Diversity Capital (2005); Soviet Trade Unions (2009); Washington’s U Street: A Biography (2010); and The Arts of War Ukrainian Artists Confront Russia. Year One (2023). Two recent monographs, The Muse of Urban Delirium (2017) and Proclaiming Presence from the Washington Stage (2021), appeared with New Academia Publishing.
CHANGING CITIES, SHIFTING STAGES: How the Performing Arts Reveal Urban Transformation
Changing Cities, Shifting Stages is built on stories about how the performing arts reveal urban transformation. The book is shaped around case studies. Four (dance in Montreal, theater in Washington, Toronto, and Kyiv) illustrate how the emergence of new performance cultures reflect deeper changes in their cities. The fifth case study (commercial music in Nashville) reverses the causal arrows to illustrate how the arts transform the city.
Changing Cities, Shifting Stages is the closing volume of a trilogy, after The Muse of Urban Delirium and Performing Presence from the Washington Stage.
Praise
“This is a superb study of the transformative role of culture in the social evolution of newly-arrived global cities. Delivered in a smart narrative style, the book is informative for students of culture, illuminating for students of global cities, and entertaining for general readers, especially with an interest in the particular art forms or particular cities covered here. In the hands of its capable author, the project is carried out with deft skill and eloquence.” —Gerald Easter, Professor of Political Science, Boston College.
“This is a manuscript with sharp analysis and evidence of impeccable historical research. The book digs into the question of urban creativity while avoiding the jargonistic and fashionable language about ‘creative cities’. The style is accessible and engaging.” —Will Straw, James McGill Professor of Urban Media Studies, McGill University