As one of the most historically intact cities in North
America, Newport, Rhode Island, has a cultural
and architectural heritage of national significance.
Each of the city's districts has its own distinct
character with street plans and buildings revealing
the political, religious, commercial, and artistic
forces that have shaped Newport through the ages.
Stately Colonial squares and bustling wharves,
picturesque Victorian villas, and scenic drives,
opulent Gilded Age palaces for the few and electric
streetcars for the many, preservation movements
to honor the past, and modernist schemes for a
metropolis of the future all tell stories of urban
beauty and controversy, of eras of lavish building,
urban decay, and extraordinary revival.

The Artful City is a richly illustrated portrait
of the city from colonial times to the present,
documented and celebrated in the maps, paintings,
photographs, poetry, and prose of renowned
artists and writers. This work is a highly readable
illustrated history of one of America's most
important physical and cultural entities.