Lewis Mumford

Lewis Mumford 1895-1990, American social philosopher, b. Flushing, N.Y.; educ. City College of New York, Columbia, New York Univ., and the New School for Social Research. A critic of the dehumanizing tendencies of modern technological civilization, Mumford argues that humanity's only hope lies in a return to human feelings and sensitivities and to moral values. In addition to social philosophy, his works cover such areas as architecture and city planning. He served as professor at Stanford, the Univ. of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Univ. of California at Berkeley, and other universities. Among his books are Technics and Civilization (1934), The Culture of Cities (1938), The Condition of Man (1944), The Conduct of Life (1951), The Transformations of Man (1956), The City in History (1961), and Interpretations and Forecasts (1973).

Bibliography: See biography by D. L. Miller (1992); F. G. Novak, Jr., ed., Lewis Mumford and Patrick Geddes: The Correspondence (1995).

Mumford, Lewis (1895–1990) US writer and critic, best known for his essays on town planning and architecture, which include The City in History (1961) and Roots of Contemporary Architecture (1972). He also published works on a variety of subjects, including Herman Melville (1929) and Renewal of Life (1934, 1938, 1944, 1951).