The rise and fall of William J. Levitt, the man who made the suburban house a mass commodity
Two material artifacts defined the middle-class American lifestyle in the mid-twentieth century: the automobile, which brought gas stations, highways, commercial strips, and sprawl; and the single-family suburban home, the repository of many families' long-term wealth. While the man who did the most to make the automobile a mass commodity-Henry Ford-is well known, few know the story of the man who did the same for the suburban house.
Edward Berenson describes the remarkable career of William Levitt, who did more than anyone else to create the modern suburb. In response to an unprecedented housing shortage as veterans returned home from World War II, his Levittown developments provided inexpensive mass-produced housing that was wildly popular-prospective buyers would camp out in line for two days for the chance to put down a deposit on a Levitt house. He was a celebrity, a life-changing hero to tens of thousands, and the pitchman of a renewed American Dream. But Levitt also shared Ford's dark side. He refused to allow Black people to buy or rent in his developments and doggedly defended this practice against legal challenges. Leading the way for other developers who emulated his actions, he helped ensure that suburbs nationwide remained white enclaves. These legacies are still with us. Levitt made a major contribution to the stubborn wealth disparity between white families and Black families, and his solution to the housing crisis of the 1940s-the detached house and surrounding yard-is a primary cause of the housing crisis today.
As a person, Levitt was a strangely guileless and tragic figure. He accumulated vast wealth but, after losing control of his building company, surrendered it all through foolish investments and a lavish lifestyle that included a Long Island mansion and a two-hundred-foot yacht. Just weeks before his death, as a charity patient in a hospital to which he had once given millions, he was still imagining his great comeback.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Excellent. . . . The second chapter of Mr. Berenson's book, which chronicles the building of Levittown, N.Y., reads like a how-to manual for reversing America's housing woes."-Edward Glaeser, Wall Street Journal
"The sun barely set on the Levitt family's global real estate empire, from Long Island and the East Coast to far flung outposts in Puerto Rico and France. Perfect Communities is a compelling history of how Levittowns remade suburbia and attempted to remake the world."-Thomas J. Sugrue, author of The Origins of the Urban Crisis
"More than 10,000 independent suburbs surround the major cities of the United States. Some are widely known, but Levittown is the most famous of them all. The effort had obvious shortcomings, but the Levittown homes were affordable, and they turned dreams into realities for families that were desperate for space. With clarity and precision, Perfect Communities tells a remarkable story of how our modern nation came to be."-Kenneth T. Jackson, Barzun Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University
"Perfect Communities provides an insightful analysis of the rise and fall of William Levitt and his Levittown developments. It makes an important contribution to the scholarship of housing, suburbanization, racial segregation, and Levittowns' role in these dynamics of metropolitan development."-Gregory D. Squires, editor of The Fight for Fair Housing: Causes, Consequences, and Future Implications of the Federal Fair Housing Act
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Höhe: 243 mm
Breite: 166 mm
Dicke: 31 mm
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978-0-300-25954-4 (9780300259544)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Edward Berenson is a professor of history at New York University and director of its Institute of French Studies. His books include Europe in the Modern World, The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story, and The Accusation. He lives in Tarrytown, NY.
