Mumford, Lewis (1895–1990), a United States historian and social critic. Many of his writings deal with the relation between human beings and their environment, especially in cities. He believed that Western civilization was being increasingly dominated by an oppressive and dehumanizing machine technology. His major work, The Renewal of Life, is a series of studies of modern civilization. It consists of Technics and Civilization (1934), The Culture of Cities (1938), The Condition of Man (1944), and The Conduct of Life (1951). The City in History (1961) was given the National Book Award. In 1972 Mumford received the National Medal for Literature and in 1986, the National Medal of the Arts.
Mumford was born in Flushing, New York. He attended City College of New York, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research. From 1942 to 1960, he taught at various universities.
His many other books include Sticks and Stones (1924); Herman Melville (1929); Faith for Living (1940); Values for Survival (1946); In the Name of Sanity (1954); The Highway and the City (1963); The Myth of the Machine (1967); Urban Prospect (1968); Interpretations and Forecasts, 1922–1972 (1973). Findings and Keepings, 1914–1936 (1975) and Sketches from Life (1982) are autobiographical.