The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

The Address Book is a work of nonfiction written by Deidre Mask and published in 2020. The book explores the history, cultural significance, and social implications of street names and addresses around the world. Mask is a lawyer, writer, and academic who has taught at Harvard and the London School of Economics; the book reflects this diverse background, incorporating a wide variety of academic fields and frameworks. Throughout the book, Mask blends historical research, personal anecdotes, and interviews to create her narrative. She encourages readers to reflect on the social and political implications of addresses, challenging our assumptions about how addresses shape our lives and societies.

This study guide uses the 2020 hardcover edition published by St. Martin’s Press. Certain sections of the book originally appeared as essays in The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, and are available online.

Plot Summary

The Introduction to The Address Book establishes the book’s central question: Why do street addresses matter? Mask began researching this question after learning that, globally, most households do not have a formal street address. Mask’s research on the campaign to formalize street names in West Virginia inspired her to find more stories of people fighting to establish, change, or resist street names. The Address Book is the result of that research.

The work is divided into 14 chapters. Chapter 1, “Kolkata,” focuses on efforts to formalize street names and provide addresses to people living in the slums of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India, a process that Mask argues is essential to protecting the residents’ rights and improving their lives. Chapter 2, “Haiti” describes the role of maps in identifying the sources of epidemic diseases, such as cholera in 19th-century London and 21st-century Haiti, as well as current efforts to use mapping to stop Ebola in Africa. In Chapter 3, “Rome,” Mask explores how ancient Romans navigated without formal maps, outlining the many types of streets that existed and suggesting that Roman streets acted as a kind of public space.

Chapter 4, “London,” explores how street names are developed. Mask explores the link between the modern postal service and street name reform, and reflects upon the importance of modern street names in honoring or obscuring the history of a place. Chapter 5, “Vienna,” is about the relationship between house numbers and state power. Mask explains that a sudden interest in numbering residences during the European Enlightenment was linked to the development of modern policing. By making private residences legible to the state, house numbers transformed modern cities.

Chapter 6, “Philadelphia,” attempts to explain the prevalence of numbered streets and grid systems in American cities relative to the rest of the world, with Mask arguing that the grid systems allowed early American city planners to quickly and easily divide, name, and sell land in a democratic and pragmatic way. Chapter 7, “Korea and Japan,” examines how the majority of streets in modern Tokyo do not have street names; instead, blocks are numbered. Mask argues that the Japanese addressing system reflects reading and writing practices, particularly the use of kanji. She also cites a similar system in Korea, where attempts to modernize Korea’s addressing system have not been widely accepted.

Chapter 8, “Iran,” considers the controversy surrounding streets honoring revolutionary figures, such as when a street sign in Tehran named Winston Churchill Street—the location of the British Embassy—was altered to read Bobby Sands Street in honor of an IRA revolutionary. Mask discusses the long tradition of revolutionary street signs, including in revolutionary Paris, where street signs were intended to both contribute to a moral education and be aesthetically pleasing.

Chapter 9, “Berlin,” examines street name changes in Germany during and after the Nazi regime. In East Berlin, streets named after Hitler and other Nazi figures were renamed to honor communist revolutionaries. After the reunification of Germany in 1989, these communist street names posed their own problems. Mask connects this constant debate around street renaming to the German concept of vergangenheitsbewältigung (“the process of working through the past”).

Chapter 10, “Hollywood, Florida,” discusses American debates about streets named in honor of the Confederacy and Confederate soldiers. Mask argues that racist ideologies are essential to the city’s identity: Streets originally named to honor cities with thriving Black communities were later renamed to honor Confederate generals during a period of high KKK activity in Florida. Chapter 11, “St. Louis,” explores the condition and reputation of streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) in the United States. Mask shows that Black communities were more likely to honor King than other groups. She argues that, as a result of Jim Crow housing policies and segregation, these Black communities have been intentionally denied resources.

Chapter 12, “South Africa,” explores the debate over South African street names honoring Afrikaners—white descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa—and the use of Afrikaans—the language of Afrikaners and the apartheid government—on street signs and in universities. Mask explores the history of apartheid South Africa and President Nelson Mandela’s reluctance to change Afrikaans street names in light of the tenuous post-apartheid peace.

Chapter 13, “Manhattan,” explores the monetary value of street names. Mask compares former President Donald Trump, who began his career as a real estate developer, and Henry Mandel, a developer who revolutionized New York real estate in the early 20th century. Mask shows that the buying of vanity addresses for buildings, such as Trump’s 1 Central Park West and Mandel’s apartment at One Park Avenue, belongs to a long tradition of practices intended to increase the value of real estate. Mask suggests that developers like Trump and Mandel have made New York City inaccessible to all but the ultra-rich.

Chapter 14, “Homelessness,” explores the struggles facing unhoused people who lack a permanent address. Mask shows that stigma against unhoused people leads to hiring discrimination from employers, preventing unhoused people from changing their status. She highlights the work of two activists working to provide solutions, lawyer Sarah Golabek-Goldman and activist Chris Hildrey. Hildrey designed a system to assign unhoused people permanent addresses associated with vacant investment properties. Mail for unhoused people would be sent to the vacant properties, then forwarded by the postal service to shelters or to a designated address for them to collect.

In her Conclusion, Mask considers the future of addressing systems and technologies. She compares two of the men responsible for modernizing Chicago: Daniel Burnham, whose 1909 Plan of Chicago set the standard for imaginative city planning, and Edward Brennan, an unsung hero who renamed and numbered streets across the city. Mask argues that Brennan deserves the recognition Burnham has earned. She identifies Chris Sheldrick, founder of what3words, as a spiritual heir to Brennan. Sheldrick’s project divides the map of the world into 3m by 3m squares that are assigned an “address” of three words; individuals and agencies can find their address via the app. While acknowledging the benefit of these technologies, Mask expresses hesitation about giving the power of addressing to private companies. She ends with a call to action, encouraging readers to consider the power of addresses and to remember that addressing is not a neutral act.