A noted urban historian traces the story of the suburb from its origins in nineteenth-century London to its twentieth-century demise in decentralized cities like Los Angeles.
Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise And Fall Of Suburbia
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Unlike the pre-modern city, where workplaces and residences were integrated, suburbia, as this "searching study" reveals, is a middle-class invention. In tracing suburban history, Fishman "makes us keenly aware that modern, class-segregated suburbs represent a total transformation of urban values," reported PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Noted scholar of suburbia Fishman presents an overview of the history of the movement of the Anglo-American middle class to detached homes in natural settings on the fringes of cities. This move to the suburbs, beginning mainly in the 1800s, he feels took place first in England, then the United States. Among the causes for this great change were the growth of city ugliness and the working class due to industrialization and advances in transportation and communication. Covering some of the same ground as Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier ( LJ 9/1/85) but reaching markedly different conclusions, Fishman's book belongs in academic and large public libraries. Pat Ensor, Indiana State Univ. Lib., Terre Haute
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The text has good analysis and synthesis and is wholly accessible to anyone. It is a fascinating book which ends discussing the then phenomenon of 'edge cities' or 'boom burgs'. It is truly a shame that the author has not published any further book-length work or continued on where he left off in the late 1980's. He has published quite a lot, but it has been in the context of journals and digests. This is a great companion book to "The Crabgrass Frontier", especially since it comes to somewhat different conclusions, as demonstrated in the title itself.
I regret that I am not able to read other books by this author and heartily recommend this to everyone.
I regret that I am not able to read other books by this author and heartily recommend this to everyone.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This truly enjoyable examination loses two stars for two reasons: it is a tad dated (no fault of its own) and it misses the point. Suburbia did not fall, it morphed or evolved in an unfortunate ways. Yet, it holds true to some original observations like Mumford's critique that suburbia is "a collective effort to live a private life". One of the greatest surprises in my life is to actually find myself living in "modern" suburbia and I am in violent agreement with Mumford's take on this isolating environment. I live within 500 meters of ten neighbors and know more about the last guy I sat next to on a plane than the neighbors I have resided by for over five years.
Suburban design was meant to create a harmony between nature and city. Instead it has developed into bastardized versions of tiny cities (not quaint towns). People have escaped the city core where they work and created a bizarre melange of living conditions that was never desired but is plainly a new form of city. This new environment was to renew the focus on family but actually segregated that unit in more ways than ever could have been imagined.
The North American suburb is a cookie cutter of Monopoly game houses, aesthetically revolting strip malls, failed attempts at rekindling post-war community involvement, and broad voids of culture. These suburbs are quite different from the ones John Cheever captured in his fiction following the Second World War. They are a horribly false construct driven by conformity, false economic advantage, and expectations of material possessions that depress rather than reward their owners. Cheever may have been ahead of his time when he wrote that the only thing shared in suburbia was the consumption of alcohol.
Suburban design was meant to create a harmony between nature and city. Instead it has developed into bastardized versions of tiny cities (not quaint towns). People have escaped the city core where they work and created a bizarre melange of living conditions that was never desired but is plainly a new form of city. This new environment was to renew the focus on family but actually segregated that unit in more ways than ever could have been imagined.
The North American suburb is a cookie cutter of Monopoly game houses, aesthetically revolting strip malls, failed attempts at rekindling post-war community involvement, and broad voids of culture. These suburbs are quite different from the ones John Cheever captured in his fiction following the Second World War. They are a horribly false construct driven by conformity, false economic advantage, and expectations of material possessions that depress rather than reward their owners. Cheever may have been ahead of his time when he wrote that the only thing shared in suburbia was the consumption of alcohol.
By The Turtle
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book provides a great history of a way of life that, on the its surface, appears to be without form. It is an enjoyable read for anyone interested this type of development.
Citations (learn more)
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- Civilizing American Cities: Writings On City Landscapes by Frederick Law Olmsted on 5 pages
- Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States by Kenneth T. Jackson on page 116, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Rise of Suburbia (Themes in urban history) by F. M. L. Thompson in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Architecture in Philadelphia by Edward Teitelman in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Communist Manifesto and Other Revolutionary Writings: Marx, Marat, Paine, Mao Tse-Tung, Gandhi and Others (Dover Thrift Editions) by Robert Blaisdell on page 71, and Back Matter
See all 80 books this book cites
- Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions by Edward W. Soja on page 79, page 233, and Back Matter
- Fenced Off: The Suburbanization of American Politics (American Governance and Public Policy series) by Juliet F. Gainsborough on page 17, page 26, and Back Matter
- Designing Families: The Search for Self and Community in the Information Age by John Scanzoni in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Governing Metropolitan Areas: Response to Growth and Change (Garland Reference Library of Social Science) by David Hamilton on page 44, page 82, and page 171
- Changing Suburbs: Foundation, Form and Function (Planning, History and Environment Series) by Richard Harris on page 164, page 182, and page 237
See all 100 books citing this book
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