Crossing through cities that no longer had names. Families returning to ash and making it home in postwar Europe

After the factories closed, after the jobs vanished, after the newspapers declared the city dead-some people remained. They were not urban planners or politicians. They were bakers who opened bakeries in empty storefronts, teachers who ran schools without pay, retirees who planted gardens on vacant lots. This book tells the story of urban rebirth from the ground up, focusing on cities that hit rock bottom and found their way back through the stubborn refusal of their remaining residents.