ABSTRACT
One of the great themes of American urbanization as indicated earlier is "success" in the city. The city affords marvelous opportunities for social mobility but the countryside and the small town do not. Success against perilous conditions also appears in the sociological literature about social mobility. An important variant of this main theme is that success in the city is only won by some people and under certain conditions for the city is sufficiently perilous that it may destroy those who do not conquer it. The "success against peril" theme is most visibly associated with the larger cities, but closer examination of popular literature about the smaller cities would undoubtedly show the same imagery. To their hinterlands, Memphis and New Orleans simultaneously represented challenge and danger. Success against perilous conditions also appears in the sociological literature about social mobility.
