Levittown
Title | Levittown PDF eBook |
Author | David Kushner |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing USA |
Total Pages | 302 |
Release | 2022-03-08 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 163973077X |
The explosive true story of the first African-American family to move into one of America's most iconic suburbs, Levittown, Pennsylvania. In the decade after World War II, one entrepreneurial family helped thousands of people buy into the American dream of owning a home, not just any home, but a good one, with all the modern conveniences. The Levitts--two brothers, William and Alfred, and their father, Abe--pooled their talents in land use, architecture, and sales to create story book town with affordable little houses. They laid out the welcome mat, but not to everyone. Levittown had a whites-only policy. This is the story that unfolded in Levittown, PA, one unseasonably hot summer in 1957 on a quiet street called Deepgreen Lane. There, a white Jewish Communist family named Wechsler secretly arranged for a black family, the Myers, to buy the little pink house next door. What followed was an explosive summer of violence that would transform their lives, and the nation. It would lead to the downfall of a titan, and the integration of the most famous suburb in the world. It's a story of hope and fear, invention and rebellion, and the power that comes when ordinary people take an extraordinary stand.
Second Suburb
Title | Second Suburb PDF eBook |
Author | Dianne Suzette Harris |
Publisher | University of Pittsburgh Pre |
Total Pages | 450 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | Architecture |
ISBN | 0822943891 |
Second Suburb uncovers the unique story of Levittown, Pennsylvania, and its significance to American social, architectural, environmental, and political history.
Levittown
Title | Levittown PDF eBook |
Author | Margaret Lundrigan Ferrer |
Publisher | Arcadia Publishing |
Total Pages | 132 |
Release | 1997-03-01 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780738562285 |
When developer Abraham Levitt and his two sons conceived the idea for Levittown in 1946, they were probably unaware of the future impact of their radical concept--to build cellarless, affordable tract housing on Long Island farmland. Levittown became the prototype suburban community that has been mirrored in towns throughout America and around the world. This delightful photographic history chronicles the growth and development of Levittown as returning World War II GIs flocked to it in droves, attracted by the promise of the American Dream of becoming homeowners. Despite criticism of its "stunning conformity," Levittown and its residents thrived as they raised families, started businesses, and created a close-knit community that exists to this day. This enchanting collection of photographs reveals the joys and struggles of Levittown's founders and residents as they carved their niche in American history.
The Levittowners
Title | The Levittowners PDF eBook |
Author | Herbert J. Gans |
Publisher | Columbia University Press |
Total Pages | 709 |
Release | 2017-03-28 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 023154264X |
In 1955, Levitt and Sons purchased most of Willingboro Township, New Jersey and built 11,000 homes. This, their third Levittown, became the site of one of urban sociology's most famous community studies, Herbert J. Gans's The Levittowners. The product of two years of living in Levittown, the work chronicles the invention of a new community and its major institutions, the beginnings of social and political life, and the former city residents' adaptation to suburban living. Gans uses his research to reject the charge that suburbs are sterile and pathological. First published in 1967, The Levittowners is a classic of participant-observer ethnography that also paints a sensitive portrait of working-class and lower-middle-class life in America. This new edition features a foreword by Harvey Molotch that reflects on Gans's challenges to conventional wisdom.
Levittown
Title | Levittown PDF eBook |
Author | Richard G. Wagner |
Publisher | Arcadia Publishing |
Total Pages | 132 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780738572765 |
In 1951, Levittown was created in Bucks County outside of Philadelphia by builder pioneers Levitt and Sons; a superb collection of history and photographs illustrates the birth and growth of this unique area, explores the community that resulted and features residents' personal memories of the golden years. Original.
The Ladies of Levittown
Title | The Ladies of Levittown PDF eBook |
Author | Gene Horowitz |
Publisher | Richard Marek Publishers |
Total Pages | 330 |
Release | 1980 |
Genre | Levittown (N.Y.) |
ISBN | 9780399900761 |
Expanding the American Dream
Title | Expanding the American Dream PDF eBook |
Author | Barbara M. Kelly |
Publisher | State University of New York Press |
Total Pages | 304 |
Release | 1993-02-02 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 1438408692 |
Much has been written about the housing policies of the Depression and the Postwar period. Much less has been written of the houses built as a result of these policies, or the lives of the families who lived in them. Using the houses of Levittown, Long Island, as cultural artifacts, this book examines the relationship between the government-sponsored, mass-produced housing built after World War II, the families who lived in it, and the society that fostered it. Beginning with the basic four-room, slab-based Cape Cods and Ranches, Levittown homeowners invested time and effort, barter and money in the expansion and redesign of their houses. The author shows how this gradual process has altered the socioeconomic nature of the community as well, bringing Levittown fully into the mainstream of middle-class America. This book works on several levels. For planners, it offers a reassessment of the housing policies of the 1940s and '50s, suggesting that important lessons remain to be learned from the Levittown experience. For historians, it offers new insights into the nature of the suburbanization process that followed World War II. And for those who wish to understand the subtle workings of their own domestic space within their lives, it offers food for speculation.