American CitiesBefore you begin the lesson, think about what you know of large American cities. Write a paragraph explaining whether you think Strong’s opinion of American cities is true today. “The city is the nerve center of our civilization. It is also the storm center . . . The rich are richer, and the poor are poorer, in the city than elsewhere; and, as a rule, the greater the city, the greater are the riches of the rich and poverty of the poor.”

—Josiah Strong, Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, 1885