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Jim Schwab

Born: 1949 in Oceanside, NY
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Jim Schwab lives in Chicago.

Biography: Schwab is a senior research associate with the American Planning Association in Chicago. His career reflects his double penchant. At the University of Iowa, he obtained master's degrees in both urban and regional planning and journalism. He has combined these skills in his writing, using the analytical skills of the planner and the narrative skills of the journalist to probe major social, economic, and environmental issues facing American society.His signature work as primary author, published in April 1999, is a guidance document for local planners of which he is the principal author, with contributions of case studies from four other authors. Co-published by the American Planning Association and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction (Planning Advisory Service Report No. 483/484) is, in the words of one of its prepublication reviewers, 'likely to be the definitive work in this field for at least the next ten years.' At the same time, APA also published his monograph, Planning and Zoning for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (PAS Report 484). His two books to date are ''Raising Less Corn and More Hell: Midwestern Farmers Speak Out'' and ''Deeper Shades of Green: The Rise of Blue-Collar and Minority Environmentalism in America''. The first was essentially an oral history of the farm protest of the 1980s that challenged widespread farm bankruptcies and liquidations. The second examined the often invisible movement within African-American, Hispanic, and other minority communities, as well as white blue-collar neighborhoods, to fight industrial pollution and protect public health.Jim has written dozens of articles for national journals and magazines like ''The Nation'', ''The Progressive'', ''Country Journal'', and ''Historic Preservation''. From 1992-1996, he edited APA's environmental planning newsletter, Environment & Development; since 1990, he has also edited APA's Zoning News, a monthly newsletter on zoning issues. He was formerly assistant editor of APA's monthly magazine, Planning.He is a past President of the Society of Midland Authors (1997-99), and served in many capacities including as SMA's membership secretary and vice-president. And, he is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the American Institute of Certified Planners (a subsidiary of APA), and the Society of Professional Journalists.


Awards:

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: jschwab@planning.org
Website: http://www.jimschwab.com
Jim Schwab on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=jim+schwab


Selected Titles

Deeper shades of green :
ISBN: 0871564629 OCLC: 28709842

Sierra Club Books, San Francisco : ©1994.

Deeper Shades of Green documents the convergence of two great American movements - conservation and the struggle for social justice. Environmentalists, once faulted for ignoring minorities and the poor, are recognizing the need to find common ground. Poor communities of all colors, the worst targets of pollution and waste-dumping, are perceiving that environmental ills are part of their larger fight.

Raising less corn and more hell :
ISBN: 0252013980 OCLC: 17439550

University of Illinois Press, Urbana : ©1988.

In "Raising Less Corn and More Hell," Midwestern farmers offer heartrending stories in their own words about today's crisis in rural America. Dozens of family farmers tell Jim Schwab how they perceive the crisis and what they and the rest of us, as a nation, should do about it. These are not objective, detached accounts; rather, they are vivid testimonials by angry men and women who cannot survive existing farm policies designed to drive them off their land. Their stories capture the pain and anguish that so many rural families feel as they are forced to give up both their livelihoods and their way of life.

 

 

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