The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape

The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape
by James Howard Kunstler

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Book Summary Information

Author: James Howard Kunstler
Edition: Paperback
Published: 1994-07-26
ISBN: 0671888250
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Free Press

Book Reviews of The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape

Book Review: Angry, left wing slant to this book.....
Summary: 3 Stars

I've only read a few chapters of this book but I can already get a sense of the author's left wing political leanings. He seems to think that cars are the root of all evil. (Just like author Jared Diamond seems to blame everything on deforestation--see his books).

Kunstler's book is also filled with bits of meaningless prose which seem to reflect some sort of personal ax to grind. Here's an example from page 219:

"Even after he became a showbiz mogul, Walt Disney's world view remained that of a provincial midwesterner, whether it was his idea of the jungle (ooga booga), or of space travel (gee whiz), or of U.S. history (I pledge allegiance...)."

I don't understand Kunstler's point here. There's a vaguely critical tone towards people from the midwest in this sentence but what is his point? What purpose does the gibberish "ooga booga" serve in this sentence? What does "gee whiz" mean? Is Kunstler trying to mock people who are impressed by the achievement of space travel as somehow being provincial? That's just silly. Being in awe of space travel is obviously not restricted to people born in midwest. What exactly is Kunstler's point? What is the purpose of putting "I pledge allegiance" in brackets in this sentence? Is this some sort of criticism of the pledge of allegiance as somehow being "provincial"?.

I find this sort of meaningless prose annoying. I'll probably skim read the rest of the book just for the interesting tidbits.

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Summary of The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape

The Geography of Nowhere traces America's evolution from a nation of Main Streets and coherent communities to a land where every place is like no place in particular, where the cities are dead zones and the countryside is a wasteland of cartoon architecture and parking lots.

In elegant and often hilarious prose, Kunstler depicts our nation's evolution from the Pilgrim settlements to the modern auto suburb in all its ghastliness. The Geography of Nowhere tallies up the huge economic, social, and spiritual costs that America is paying for its car-crazed lifestyle. It is also a wake-up call for citizens to reinvent the places where we live and work, to build communities that are once again worthy of our affection. Kunstler proposes that by reviving civic art and civic life, we will rediscover public virtue and a new vision of the common good. "The future will require us to build better places," Kunstler says, "or the future will belong to other people in other societies."

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