{"product_id":"9781572330368","title":"The Marble City: A Photographic Tour of Knoxville's Graveyards","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConceived in 1853 as a canny real-estate scheme by two young investors expecting to get rich off the idea, Market Square came to be Knoxville’s most public spot, a marketplace familiar to every man, woman, and child in the area. By the 1860s, it was the busiest place in a burgeoning city, a place to shop, work, play, eat, drink, and live. In a town that became bitterly divided by politics, race, and background, Market Square became a rare common ground: a place to buy all sorts of local produce, but also a place to experience new things, including the grandiose Market House itself, considered a model in a progressive era.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eBeset by urban blight by the mid-1900s, Market Square had become more of a curiosity than a point of municipal pride, and the neighborhood declined. After years of fevered controversy, the city razed the Market House and struggled to modernize the old Square itself. Through a combination of public and private efforts in the 21st century, Market Square seems to be returning to its original diverse spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarket Square details the colorful history of this wonderfully eccentric place, a place that is once again familiar to the whole community, suggesting why, on a good day, Market Square can resemble—as a reporter described it in 1900—“the most democratic place on earth.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJack Neely is the award-winning Secret History columnist for Metro Pulse, Knoxville’s weekly newspaper. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eFrom the Shadow Side and Other Stories about Knoxville, Tennessee\u003c\/i\u003e, and, with Aaron Jay, of \u003ci\u003eThe Marble City: A Photographic Tour of Knoxville’s Graveyards\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Tennessee Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47060712063216,"sku":"9781572330368","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781572330368","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}