Carl Abbott (urban historian)

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Carl Abbott (born December 3, 1944) is an American historian and urbanist, specialising in the related fields of urban history, western American history, urban planning, and science fiction,^[2] and is a frequent speaker to local community groups.

Since 1967 Carl has been married to Margery Post Abbott, a Quaker scholar and teacher.^[1]

He received a BA in history from Swarthmore College (1966) and a PhD from the University of Chicago (1971).^[3] His academic positions have included the University of Denver^[4] (1971–72), Old Dominion University (1972–78),^[5] and Portland State University (1978–2012).^[3][6][7] He has also held visiting positions at Mesa University, George Washington University,^[8] and the University of Oregon.^[9]

He served as president of the Urban History Association (1995),^[10] has been a member of the American Historical Association since 1982^[2] and served as president of its Pacific Coach Branch from 2012 until 2013.^[11] Other professional service has included co-editorship of the journal of the American Planning Association from 1999 to 2004^[12] and of the Pacific Historical Review from 1997 to 2014.^[13]

Abbott has authored or co-authored sixteen books. The Metropolitan Frontier: Cities in the Modern American West (1993) received the book award of the Urban History Association^[14] and Political Terrain: Washington D.C. from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis (1999) received the book award of the Society for American City and Regional Planning History.^[6] He has also published many scholarly articles, chapters, and reviews^[15] as well as shorter essays for general readers on his website.^[16]

Abbott is also active in fields of public history, working with Portland's Architectural Heritage Center, The Oregon Encyclopedia,^[17] the Oregon Historical Society, and other organizations and is an advocate of community-based history.^[2]

• Colorado: The History of the Centennial State. Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder 1976. Fifth edition 2013 (with Stephen Leonard and Tom Noel): University of Colorado Press, Boulder 2013, ISBN 9781607322269.
• The Great Extravaganza: Portland and the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Oregon Historical Society, Portland 1981, ISBN 0875950884.
• Boosters and Businessmen: Popular Economic Thought and Urban Growth in the Antebellum Middle West. Greenwood Press, Westport CT 1981, ISBN 0313225621.
• The New Urban America: Growth and Politics in Sunbelt Cities. University of North Carolina Press, 1981. Revised edition 1987, ISBN 0807841803.
• Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth Century City. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln NE 1983, ISBN 0803210086.
• Urban America in the Modern Age, 1920 to Present. H. Davidson, Arlington Heights IL 1987. 2nd edition 2007, ISBN 9780882952475.
• The Metropolitan Frontier: Cities in the Modern American West. University of Arizona Press, Tucson 1993, ISBN 0816511292.
• Planning a New West: The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (with Sy Adler and Margery Post Abbott). Oregon State University Press, Corvallis 1997. ISBN 0870713922.
• Political Terrain: Washington, D.C., from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 1999, ISBN 080782478X.
• Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2001, ISBN 0812236122.
• Two Centuries of Lewis and Clark: Reflections on the Voyage of Discovery (with William L. Lang). Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland 2004, ISBN 0875952887.
• Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS 2006, ISBN 0700614303.
• How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in Western North America. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 2008, ISBN 9780826333148.
• Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis 2011. ISBN 9780870716133
• Imagined Frontiers: Contemporary America and Beyond. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 2015, ISBN 978-0806148366
• Imagining Urban Futures: Cities in Science Fiction and What We Might Learn from Them. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 2016. ISBN 9780819576712