Suburbianation: Reading Suburban Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Film

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The expansion of the suburban environment is a fascinating cultural development. In fact, the United States is primarily a suburban nation, with far more Americans living in the suburbs than in either urban or rural areas. Why were suburbs created? How do we define them? Are they really the promised land of the American middle class? The concept of space and how we create it is an idea that is receiving a great deal of attention, but SuburbiaNation is the first book to look carefully at the suburban landscape through the lens of fiction and of film. Robert Beuka weaves together such classics as It's a Wonderful Life, The Stepford Wives, Rabbit, Run, The Great Gatsby, The Graduate, and House Party to discuss the utopian model of the suburb and its significance in American culture.