THE ADDRESS BOOK
What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
by
Deirdre Mask
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power, by Deirdre Mask, is a 2021 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee for Nonfiction, a Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, One of Time Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020, and Longlisted for the 2020 Porchlight Business Book Awards. Mask considers how streets are named and the effect that having (or not having) a street address has on a person. Many of us think that we have addresses so that we can receive mail; but their purpose, Mask tells us, instead is so that we can be found.
The Address Book deals with addresses across the world and touches on some fascinating issues. Mask considers the more mundane - for example, the difficulty for emergency vehicles responding in a rural area without street addresses, and the need for an address to complete an application for government benefits - as well as the more obscure - for example, purchasing addresses in Trump's Manhattan for a building that is not located on that street, and differences with addresses in Japan and Korea that may be linked to language differences.
Although each of the disparate areas and issues is interesting, there does not seem to be one theme throughout the book. In my opinion, this makes it feel disjointed, like a collection of short pieces rather than a fluid work addressing one issue. Despite the lack of a unifying thread, the material is interesting. There is more to addresses than the superficial, like the mundane mail delivery, and I never considered the complexities involved in having or issuing an address. This was a thought provoking read, and I recommend it.
