Suburban century : social change and urban growth in England and the United States /

This comparative social history of 20th-century English and US suburbs traces key differences and similarities in their suburban experiences. Suburban development in the US proved more dynamic, especially after WW II, generating new forms of fringe settlement such as edge cities. England's suburbs grew rapidly during the interwar years; its post-WW II governmental planning produced more housing for low income and minority residents than the US's largely private market. Both countries' residents wanted detached (US) or semi-detached (England) suburban houses with a garden. Suburbanization became both countries' dominant residential form; political parties' focused appeal to suburbanites reflected the changed power relations. Individual chapters cover suburban historical development and aspirations, the suburban experiences of women and racial and ethnic minorities, voluntary associations and national politics; ignored are key issues such as varied suburban morphology and independent suburbs. Although valuable for its comparative perspective and planned community history, some chapters (racial and ethnic suburbanites) are thin. The pro-suburban polemic adds little, and a weak historical context, sparse data, and lack of illustrations limit the book's value for nonspecialists. Better studies include John Palen's The Suburbs (1995), Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier (CH, Jan'86), and Robert Fishman's Bourgeois Utopias (CH, May'88). ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. J. Borchert emeritus, Cleveland State University