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Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States
Binding: Paperback
Author: Kenneth T. Jackson
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Average Rating: 4.5
Total Customer Reviews: 13
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $13.57
Sales Rank: 19317
Product Description
This first full-scale history of the development of the American suburb examines how "the good life" in America came to be equated with the a home of one's own surrounded by a grassy yard and located far from the urban workplace. Integrating social history with economic and architectural analysis, and taking into account such factors as the availability of cheap land, inexpensive building methods, and rapid transportation, Kenneth Jackson chronicles the phenomenal growth of the American suburb from the middle of the 19th century to the present day. He treats communities in every section of the U.S. and compares American residential patterns with those of Japan and Europe. In conclusion, Jackson offers a controversial prediction: that the future of residential deconcentration will be very different from its past in both the U.S. and Europe.
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Users Product Reviews: |
Product Review Summary: An illuminating book. Feel Smarter for having read the book. Great book. You have to purchase it or skim it in a bookstore to get a sense of how good it is. Jackson uses historical facts as building blocks to describe the where and why with all of the creation of the US cities, and what that entailed. The Genesis of the City - a bible which describes the creations of the suburbs and sits on the same shelf as Gunther Barth's landmark book -- City People. It explains a lot.
Product Review Summary: Disappointing This book suffers from the same problems one can find in many other works by American social scientists: well researched, descriptive, meticulous, having the appearance of objectivity ... but lacking in insight, overview, and explanatory guidelines able to organize the information presented.
For example, in order to explain the first part of suburbia explosion (from the post-Civil War to the 30's depression), the author devotes page after page to the life work of this cottage architect, that land developer, this home economics bookwriter. He engages in generalities about how the suburban home was starting to be perceived as the anchor of the family unit. He points out the crowding in major cities, he describes at length the technological advance provided by mass transportation (mostly railroad and cable cars), and he proceeds to list numerous concrete examples where this suburb expansion occurred from major cities.
But any sociological or anthropological explanation about WHY the flight to the suburbia actually took place, is notoriously absent. Also lacking, is any good explanation of why the flight to the suburbia remained such a predominantly American phenomenon.
Very rarely, the author drops an isolated comment here and there, casually mentioning "the hatred of cities that Americans inherited from the English" or pointing out that the owner's covenant on a given new development "prevented selling to any Negroes or Irishmen". But that is all. There is no followup at all, the author quickly returns to the boring enumeration of neighborhoods, developers and rail lines, and what entrepreneur helped improve what aspect of the cable car.
In sum: irritatingly, this author presents a vision of American suburbanization almost entirely explained in terms of fashion and technological advance (and later, government intervention).
No mention to racism, ethnocentrism, Black migratory waves, blockbusting, xenophobia, immigration, socialism, zoning as social control, white flight, etc.
It reminds me of those high-school textbooks that credit the Industrial Revolution "to the invention of the engine steam", as if English society hadn't undergone profound changes at the time (proletarization, the put-out, enclosures) that prepared the ground.
This book can be used as a reference for factual data about American suburban growth, but in no way explains it or provides much valuable sociological insight on the subject.
Product Review Summary: Important After "Streetcar Suburbs", which was published in the 1980s, this is the first major study on American suburbanization since. A well-founded, well-structured and well-written book.
Product Review Summary: A great glimpse into the history of the suburb While often overloaded with details, anecdotes, and apocrypha, Crabgrass Frontier is a passionate, informative investigation into the history of the suburb, both in America and elsewhere. The author clearly researched his stuff thoroughly, though one might wish for a bit LESS detail sometimes (his "evidentiary anecdotes" often get in the way of the narrative flow).
The sheer volume of detail and data make this a great book for the historian or history student (in college).
The passion of the author, and the light writing style, makes this a great book for the historical dabbler as well.
A good read, if at times a bit weighty.
Product Review Summary: came quickly Needed book for a college course, and the campus bookstore did not have it. It came within 10 days of order, standard shipping. could not ask for more.
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