American ruins have become increasingly prominent, whether in discussions of urban blight and home foreclosures, in commemorations of 9/11, or in postapocalyptic movies. In this highly original book, Nick Yablon argues that the association between American cities and ruins dates back to a much earlier period in the nation s history. Recovering numerous scenes of urban desolation from failed banks, abandoned towns, and dilapidated tenements to the crumbling skyscrapers and bridges envisioned in science fiction and cartoons "Untimely Ruins "challenges the myth that ruins were absent or...