The Address Book

What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power

By: Deirdre Mask

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

An extraordinary debut in the tradition of classic works from authors such as Mark Kurlansky, Mary Roach, and Rose George.

An exuberant and insightful work of popular history of how streets got their names, houses their numbers, and what it reveals about class, race, power, and identity.

When most people think about street addresses, if they think of them at all, it is in their capacity to ensure that the postman can deliver mail or a traveler won’t get lost. But street addresses were not invented to help you find your way; they were created to find you. In many parts of the world, your address can reveal your race and class.

In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask looks at the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr., the way finding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany. The flipside of having an address is not having one, and we also see what that means for millions of people today, including those who live in the slums of Kolkata and on the streets of London.

Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the complex and sometimes hidden stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who doesn’t - and why.

©2020 Deirdre Mask (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Janina Edwards narrates this globe-trotting and highly informed work in a fluid style. Edwards acts as a tour guide who leads the listener from India to Haiti, London to Manhattan, and skillfully renders the numerous people the listener meets along the journey. Her performance deftly captures the broad interests and wide-angle lens of the author." —AudioFile Magazine

Excellent read

Wow! I learned so much! So fascinating to think about how something many of us take for granted —our address— was created, effects our lives, plus add in race, politics, marketing, etc.

Interesting, but…

I almost couldn’t finish listening to this book because the reading was so annoying. She sounds like a computer reading.

Interesting, but needs more fact checking

I enjoyed it more than I expected, BUT I'm concerned about factual inaccuracies.
A book about street addresses sounds intensely boring, but a book about how people are impacted by where they live and how where they live is identified? Not so much.
The book meanders through many topics. Some have a looser connection to the core concept than others, but there is at least a loose unifying theme. The author uses an appropriate amount of personally relevant anecdotes. There are a lot of interesting historical stories, some of which were new to me.
After I read, I did some quick checks on factual claims. I was disappointed that the other exaggerated or misstated some claims, apparently to support her own opinions and theories, instead of objectively stating facts. It doesn't really seem like the Japanese language was the reason addresses are based on blocks instead of streets, or that kings imposed surnames on a surname-free population, among other issues. Come on. A nonfiction author's job is to do the research and fact-checking to present the best facts available in an entertaining way - I'm always deeply disappointed when nonfiction authors shirk that duty and issue half-truths.

Author has a clear agenda

I think I wanted to listen to this book because it sounded interesting about addresses. Unfortunately, halfway through the book you realize that the authors, bias and agenda for Black Lives Matter throughout the remainder of the book. It’s a skewed book that has some interesting parts to it, but is clearly biased by the authors racial in equality agenda. If it’s something you’re interested in by all means listen to it. For me, I just wanna listen to something about history and not be forced to listen to some other person.

Excellent nonfiction

Well written, interesting, and thought provoking. The Address Book is a combination of a look at the history of addresses and current research related to the same.