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From the archives

Between Words

Anne Carson’s new book-without-a-spine, and the spiritual experience of centrelessness

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

A postmodern elegy from our most original writer

Boredom as a Political Weapon

Saul Bellow fought banality—and taught us to look hard at the world

John Barber

John Barber is a widely published journalist and former columnist with the Globe and Mail.

Articles by
John Barber

A Quiet Overthrow

The paradigmatic prescience of Jane Jacobs March 2019
Jane Jacobs remains celebrated for her contributions to urban planning, most famously in her first book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, released in 1961. But Jacobs, who died in 2006, staked her own claim to posterity on the insights of her second book. Published fifty years ago, in 1969, The Economy of Cities is even more audacious than its…