I became an urban historian
because I believed that our cities deserved more of our curiosity and idealism.





In City Dreamers Graeme Davison restores
Australian cities, and those who created them, to their rightful place in the
national imagination. Building on a lifetime's work, Davison views Australian
history, from 1788 to the present day, through the eyes of city dreamers - such
as Henry Lawson, Charles Bean and Hugh Stretton - and others who have helped
make the cities we inhabit. Davison looks at significant individuals or groups
that he calls snobs, slummers, pessimists, exodists, suburbans and
anti-suburbans - and argues that there's a particular twist to the ways in
which Australians think about cities. And the ways we live in them.


This
extraordinary book excavates the cultural history of the Australian city by
focusing on 'dreamers', those who battle to make and re-make our cities. It
reminds us that for most of us the city is home, and it is there that we find
belonging.