Mumford, Lewis (1895-1990), was an American social critic, philosopher, and historian. Many of his books explore the relation between modern people and their environment. Several of them deal with city planning. The City in History (1961) won the 1962 National Book Award for nonfiction. It describes how human civilization is expressed in the development of cities.
Mumford wrote a four-volume philosophy of civilization called The Renewal of Life. The series included Technics and Civilization (1934), The Culture of Cities (1938), The Condition of Man (1944), and The Conduct of Life (1951). He also wrote several histories of architecture and studies of American culture. He was born on Oct. 9, 1895, in Flushing, New York. In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom knighted Mumford for his contributions to city planning in the United Kingdom. He died on Jan. 26, 1990.
