Overview

An eminent urban historian uncovers the long-neglected history of the restrictive covenants that played a pivotal role in shaping America’s suburbs The quintessential American suburbs, with their gracious single-family homes, large green lawns, and leaf-shaded streets, reflected not only residents’ dreams but nightmares, not only hopes but fears: fear of others, of racial minorities and lowincome groups, fear of themselves, fear of the market, and, above all, fear of change. These fears, and the restrictive covenants that embodied them, are the subject of Robert M. Fogelson’s fascinating new book. As Fogelson reveals, suburban subdividers attempted to cope with the deep-seated fears of unwanted change, especially the encroachment of “undesirable” people and activities, by imposing a wide range of restrictions on the lots. These restrictions ranged from mandating minimum costs and architectural styles for the houses to forbidding the owners to sell or lease their property to any member of a host of racial, ethnic, and religious groups. These restrictions, many of which are still commonly employed, tell us as much about the complexities of American society today as about its complexities a century ago.

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9780300124170

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'A welcome addition to American suburban history... A wonderfully accessible, interesting, timely, and important book.' Urban History 'Robert Fogelson, the author of several important volumes of urban history, has added again to our storehouse of knowledge... Fogelson's book will endure. Well into our new century, lawyers engaged in litigation contesting municipally enacted aesthetic strictures - commonplace in the suburbs to this very day - will cite the authority of Bourgeois Nightmares to buttress their clients' claims.' Michael H. Ebner, Journal of American History

Author Information

Robert M. Fogelson is professor of urban studies and history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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