| Description |
483 pages : maps ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Part I: Stuck. -- Part II: Promised lands. One ring farther out -- Chasing the dream -- A double-sided legacy -- Ambition and disappointment -- How quickly we forget -- Promised lands -- Part III: Things fall apart. "God's honest truth" -- The sun's highest point -- Corey's village -- Liberals vs. progressives -- The next Steve Jobs -- Things fall apart -- Part IV: No more away. The storm arrives -- A sudden transformation -- Hate in heaven -- "Don't fuck with me shine" -- What comes after -- No more away -- Epilogue / by Bethany Smith. |
| Summary |
"Through the stories of five American families, a masterful and timely exploration of how hope, history, and racial denial collide in the suburbs and their schools. Outside Atlanta, a middle-class Black family faces off with a school system seemingly bent on punishing their teenage son. North of Dallas, a conservative white family relocates to an affluent suburban enclave, but can’t escape the changes sweeping the country. On Chicago’s North Shore, a multiracial mom joins an ultra progressive challenge to the town’s liberal status quo. In Compton, California, whose suburban roots are now barely recognizable, undocumented Hispanic parents place their gifted son’s future in the hands of educators at a remarkable elementary school. And outside Pittsburgh, a Black mother moves to the same street where author Benjamin Herold grew up, then confronts the destructive legacy left behind by white families like his. Disillusioned braids these human stories together with penetrating local and national history to reveal a vicious cycle undermining the dreams upon which American suburbia was built. For generations, upwardly mobile white families have extracted opportunity from the nation’s heavily subsidized suburbs, then moved on before the bills for maintenance and repair came due, leaving the mostly Black and Brown families who followed to clean up the ensuing mess. But now, sweeping demographic shifts and the dawning realization that endless expansion is no longer feasible are disrupting this pattern, forcing everyday families to confront a truth their communities were designed to avoid: The suburban lifestyle dream is a Ponzi scheme whose unraveling threatens us all. How do we come to terms with this troubled history? How do we build a future in which all children can thrive?" -- Publisher's website. |
| Subject(S) |
Suburbs -- United States -- Social conditions.
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Suburban life -- United States -- Case studies.
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American Dream.
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Minority families -- United States -- Case studies.
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Suburban schools -- United States -- Case studies.
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Social problems -- United States -- Case studies.
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United States -- Race relations -- Case studies.
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Case studies.
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| Added Name(S) |
Smith, Bethany, PhD, writer of epilogue.
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| ISBN |
9780593298183 (hc) |
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0593298187 (hc) |
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Other Resources
