Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-302) and index.

Annotation,A comprehensive history of the contested cultural landscape where most Americans now live. For almost two centuries Americans have been moving to the suburbs in search of affordable family housing, unspoiled nature, and small-town sociability--only to find that their leafy new neighborhoods are part of a growing metropolitan sprawl. From nineteenth-century utopian communities and elite, picturesque enclaves, to early twentieth-century streetcar subdivisions and owner-built tracts, to the vast postwar sitcom suburbs and the subsidized malls and office parks that followed (on a scale that earlier builders could never have imagined), Dolores Hayden explores the interplay of natural and built environments, the complex antagonisms between real-estate developers and suburban residents, the hidden role of the federal government, and the religious and ideological overtones of the "American dream" embedded in the suburbs. And she makes a strong case for the revitalization of existing neighborhoods in place of unchecked new growth on rural fringes. Few readers will see the ubiquitous suburbs in the same way again.

Also issued online.

SACFinal081324