ATLANTA is a relatively young city: only incorporated in 1847, it was little more than a minor transportation center until the Civil War, when its accessibility made it a good site for the huge Confederacy munitions industry - and consequently a major target for the Union army. In 1864 Sherman's army burned the city, an act immortalized in Gone with the Wind . Recovery after the war took just a few years: Atlanta was the archetype of the aggressive, urban, industrial "New South," furiously championed by " boosters " - newspaper owners, bankers, politicians and city leaders. Industrial giants who based themselves here included Coca-Cola , source of a string of philanthropic gifts to the city. Heavy black immigration to Atlanta increased its already considerable black population and led to the establishment of a thriving community centered around Auburn Avenue .
Very few of Atlanta's buildings predate 1915, and nothing at all survives from before 1868. Its characters, on the other hand - politicians and newspaper people - have changed little, and the "booster" tradition has continued to the present, peaking spectacularly when Atlanta won the right to host the 1996 Olympics . The bid to convince the world of the city's prosperity and sophistication was led by city leaders such as ex-mayor Andrew Young (the first Southern black congressman since Reconstruction, who became Carter's ambassador to the UN) and flamboyant former CNN magnate Ted Turner .
Today's Atlanta is at first glance a typical large American city. Its population has reached 3.5 million, and urban sprawl is such a problem that each citizen is obliged to travel an average of 34 miles per day by car - the highest figure in the country. Cut off from each other by roaring freeways, bright lights and an enclave mentality, its neighborhoods tend to have distinct racial identities - broadly speaking, "white flight" was to the northern suburbs, while the southern districts are predominantly black. That said, the city is undeniably progressive, with little interest in lamenting a lost Southern past.
