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Crabgrass Frontier
- The Suburbanization of the United States
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
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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The Death and Life of Great American Cities
- 50th Anniversary Edition
- By: Jane Jacobs, Jason Epstein - introduction
- Narrated by: Donna Rawlins
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
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Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning....[It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments."
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Fantastic text, dull on audio
- By Meghan on 02-13-15
By: Jane Jacobs, and others
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The Great Reset
- How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity
- By: Richard Florida
- Narrated by: Eric Conger
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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We tend to view prolonged economic downturns, such as the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Long Depression of the late 19th century, in terms of the crisis and pain they cause. But history teaches us that these great crises also represent opportunities to remake our economy and society and to generate whole new eras of economic growth and prosperity.
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glorification of City Life
- By Ryan Riggs on 11-25-20
By: Richard Florida
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Sun, Sin, Suburbia
- The History of Modern Las Vegas Revised and Expanded
- By: Geoff Schumacher
- Narrated by: Douglas R. Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Las Vegas is gambling's mecca - Sin City the Entertainment Capital of the World with 40 million visitors a year. But that's just part of the story. This carefully documented history tracks the rise of Las Vegas from its vital role in World War II, of the Rat Pack era of the 50s, the explosive growth of the 90s, and it's colossal collapse in the post 2008 real-estate crash. It offers a history of the iconic Strip, but also profiles the neighborhoods where over 2 million people live.
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Good History of Vegas - old, modern and mundane
- By Amazon Customer on 06-13-14
By: Geoff Schumacher
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Divided Highways
- Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life
- By: Tom Lewis
- Narrated by: Jim D. Johnston
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In Divided Highways, Tom Lewis offers an encompassing account of highway development in the United States. In the early twentieth century Congress created the Bureau of Public Roads to improve roads and the lives of rural Americans. The Bureau was the forerunner of the Interstate Highway System of 1956, which promoted a technocratic approach to modern road building sometimes at the expense of individual lives, regional characteristics, and the landscape.
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Lots of interesting facts. Poor narration
- By Richard on 06-01-21
By: Tom Lewis
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The Rise and Fall of American Growth
- The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War
- By: Robert J. Gordon
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 30 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from 45 to 72 years. The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era.
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Over-detailed, with no engaging message
- By BehA on 01-31-17
By: Robert J. Gordon
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Happy City
- Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
- By: Charles Montgomery
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks, and tower dwelling improvements on the car dependence of sprawl?
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Great book-terrible narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-04-19
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Americana
- A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
- By: Bhu Srinivasan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan
- Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
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Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
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Street Smart
- The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars
- By: Samuel I. Schwartz, William Rosen - contributor
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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With wit and sharp insight, former Traffic Commissioner of New York City, Sam Schwartz a.k.a. "Gridlock Sam", one of the most respected transportation engineers in the world and consummate insider in NYC political circles, uncovers how American cities became so beholden to cars and why the current shift away from that trend will forever alter America's urban landscapes, marking nothing short of a revolution in how we get from place to place.
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Interesting, thought provoking, and hopeful
- By JKuster on 03-07-20
By: Samuel I. Schwartz, and others
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The Well-Tempered City
- What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations, and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life
- By: Jonathan F. P. Rose
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Cities are birthplaces of civilization; centers of culture, trade, and progress; cauldrons of opportunity - and the home of 80 percent of the world's population by 2050. As the 21st century progresses, metropolitan areas will bear the brunt of global megatrends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, population growth, income inequality, mass migrations, and education and health disparities, among many others.
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The best way to save the future is to look at the past
- By Kate on 10-01-22
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Nature's Metropolis
- Chicago and the Great West
- By: William Cronon
- Narrated by: Jonah Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.
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Moving
- By JB on 02-09-18
By: William Cronon
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China, Inc.
- By: Ted C. Fishman
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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China today is visible everywhere: In the news, in the economic pressures battering America, in the workplace, and in every trip to the store. Provocative, timely, and essential, this dramatic account of China's growing dominance as an industrial super-power by journalist Ted C. Fishman explains how the profound shift in the global economic order has occurred, and why it already affects us all.
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Just read the Amazon reviews befor buying it ...
- By Dan on 08-10-05
By: Ted C. Fishman
What listeners say about Crabgrass Frontier
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cory Balliet
- 03-23-21
Interesting, but a bit dry and long winded.
I thought the topics and statistics covered in the book were interesting. it really details how the US ended up as such a suburban nation. however the story didn't always keep my attention. the author goes on a bit longer than needed to make a point sometimes. worth listening once, but probably won't be listening a second time.
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- Frank Rabalais
- 02-18-21
Essential and Masterful
Jackson demonstrates how the development of the uniquely suburban-centric form of the American landscape was equal parts intention and technological innovation, founded upon the natural bounties of our nation and the tensions inherent to its melting pot of different ethnicities and races. Anyone who wonders why our metropolitan areas look the way they do must read at least the portion of this work that addresses the 1930s up to the present (which is the mid-1980s in this instance, but differing little from 2020, for better or worse). An essential read and a masterful synthesis.
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- nerdymko
- 05-04-19
Most interesting interpretation of potentially boring subject
This was really well done and absolutely kept my interest. It is an older book, so I think it sets some foundation but you should definitely augment with some more current research, but this is a great foundation.
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- Richard McKown
- 06-25-23
There is so much to think about here.
I can’t believe I haven’t read this book before now. Most of what we have been told for the last 25 years in housing blames suburbanization on the rise of the automobile after the second world war. In reality the process began in the mid-1800s and continues to this day.
The recent return to cities is a stage of life phenomenon. The millennials were the largest generation to have ever been born in the United States, as they completed their education and sought to find their life partners cities became the most logical place for this enormous, highly educated generation to start their young working lives.
However, like most generations before them once they started having children and discovered how difficult it is to take a baby stroller, down into the subway, or onto a street car, or on to a bus. The millennials followed their baby boomer parents to the suburbs just like the baby boomers parents, the original World War II generation went to the suburbs, as did so many previous generations, seeking to escape the problems of cities, both real and perceived.
Jeffrey West has written an amazing book called Scale, that looks at cities and their relationship to nature in terms of the relative efficiency of systems. I feel like there is a need for a new sociological examination of cities and suburbs as it relates to increasing changes in technology, the post Covid advent of telecommuters and home delivery also known as the Amazon effect, yes, I fully realize this is an Amazon owned platform.
Even if we were to change, all of the tax codes and incentives one might still find that people living in urban centers seek to move to the suburbs once a bonded pair has been established.
What do I mean by that? As a developer and operator of Urban property for the last 12 years. We have continued to observe that once a couple has entered into some form of commitment device whether that be engagement, marriage, or having a child together, this is when the couple chooses to leave the environment, which is predominantly inhabited by single people. Singleness, which today represents 50.2% of the adult population in America is a remarkably new phenomenon add to that the changed attitudes concerning sexuality, one can remain single and independent, continuing to live in an urban environment, and have a very fulfilling, social life. As compared to how isolated a single person might feel in a typical suburban neighborhood.
Singleness and renting is yet another observation we have made meaning the purchase of property seems to be a commitment device much like buying an engagement ring. Single people seem to not want to purchase condominiums, but yet are happy to pay very high rents for the exact same property, presumably, in the hopes that they are keeping their options open, and when they meet Mr. Wright or Mrs. wrong, or whoever it is, they’re looking for that then they will choose to enter into the homebuying market, which most often will take them out to where the other married couples are , and away from the competition of other single people, congregated into the posh parts of the course city,
Much work would need to be done to know whether or not this is a significant finding or merely an anecdotal observation, but as someone who would love to see our cities transform into European like centers of culture and creativity, I am hopeful that we can continue to study These important issues, and I am also hopeful that we can create policies which will stimulate the reinvention and reinvestment in our cities.
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- QuartzandPyrite
- 03-24-16
A classic
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
Although it was written decades ago, many of the issues discussed are still relevant today. This book gives a wonderful comprehensive history about why suburbs are so popular and why we can't stop building them.
Any additional comments?
A classic and a must read for those interested in urbanism. I feel a lot of books I've read where just updates to this book, I'm glad I finally got to it.
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- AGN
- 07-27-22
fascinating history 📜
the first half of the book is the most boring history book about rich people's houses, but then in chapter 9 things start to pick up with the trolley invention, and then sh*t hits the fan in chapter 11 during and after WWII. like God! we went crazy with our houses 🏘️
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