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The cover of The Address Book

The Address Book

Deirdre Mask, 2020

Discover how street addresses shape access, identity, memory, race, and wealth, while making people visible to both public services and systems of control.

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7 parts, about 16 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that street names and house numbers are about power: who gets honored, who gets found, and who gets counted
  • Changes how you read an ordinary address, as a key to banks, jobs and aid, and also a tool for tax and surveillance
  • Travels from slums and refugee camps to fallen dictatorships and luxury avenues, weighing each side instead of preaching

Who it is for

  • Readers curious about cities and the stories in maps
  • Urban planners and civic officials who name streets
  • People working on homelessness, aid or public records

What the summary covers

  1. An Address Is Never Just a Location2 min
  2. Being Seen Can Open a Life2 min
  3. Ways of Finding a City3 min
  4. Names Make Political Memory Ordinary2 min
  5. Race, Honor, and Belonging3 min
  6. The Price of an Address and of Having None2 min
  7. Invisible Infrastructure and the Digital Future2 min

Recommended by

  • Simon GarfieldAuthor of Just My Type
    Deirdre Mask's book was just up my Strasse, alley, avenue and boulevard.

About the author

  • Deirdre MaskLawyer and writer, author of a book about street addresses
    • She graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude, attended the University of Oxford, then returned to Harvard for law school, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
    • She completed a master's in writing at the National University of Ireland.
    • Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic and The Guardian.
    • Originally from North Carolina, she has taught at Harvard and the London School of Economics.

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