{"product_id":"geography-of-nowhere-the-rise-and-declineof-americas-man-made-landscape-by-james-howard-kunstler","title":"Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Geography of Nowhere\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn elegant and often hilarious prose, Kunstler depicts our nation's evolution from the Pilgrim settlements to the modern auto suburb in all its ghastliness. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Geography of Nowhere\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e 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. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"The future will require us to build better places,\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Kunstler says, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"or the future will belong to other people in other societies.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEighty percent of everything ever built in America has been built since the end of World War II.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside is not simply an expression of our economic predicament, but in large part a cause. It is the everyday environment where most Americans live and work, and it represents a gathering calamity whose effects we have hardly begun to measure. In The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler traces America's evolution from a nation of Main Streets and coherent communities to a land where everyplace is like noplace in particular, where the city is a dead zone and the countryside a wasteland of cars and blacktop. Now that the great suburban build-out is over, Kunstler argues, we are stuck with the consequences: a national living arrangement that destroys civic life while imposing enormous social costs and economic burdens. Kunstler explains how our present zoning laws impoverish the life of our communities, and how all our efforts to make automobiles happy have resulted in making human beings miserable. He shows how common building regulations have led to a crisis in affordable housing, and why street crime is directly related to our traditional disregard for the public realm. Kunstler takes the reader on a historical journey to understand how Americans came to view their landscape as a commodity for exploitation rather than a social resource. He explains why our towns and cities came to be wounded by the abstract dogmas of Modernism, and reveals the paradox of a people who yearn for places worthy of their affection, yet bend their efforts in an economic enterprise of destruction that degrades and defaces what they most deeply desire. Kunstler proposes sensible remedies for this American crisis of landscape and townscape: a return to sound principles of planning and the lost art of good place-making, an end to the tyranny of compulsive commuting, the un\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCONTENTS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChapter\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOne \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eSCARY PLACES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eAMERICAN SPACE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThree \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eLIFE ON THE GRIDIRON\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFour \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eEDEN UPDATED\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFive \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eYESTERDAY'S TOMORROW\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSix \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eJOYRIDE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSeven \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE EVIL EMPIRE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEight \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eHOW TO MESS UP A TOWN\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNine \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eA PLACE CALLED HOME\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE LOSS OF COMMUNITY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEleven \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHREE CITIES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwelve \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eCAPITALS OF UNREALITY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThirteen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eBETTER PLACES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNOTES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBIBLIOGRAPHY\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eINDEX\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRobert Taylor \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e A wonderfully entertaining useful and provocative account of the American environment by the auto, suburban developers, purblind zoning and corporate pirates.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBill McKibben author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe End of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e A Funny, Angry, Colossally Important Tour of Our Built Landscape, Our Human Ecology.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e A serious attempt to point out ways future builders can avoid the errors that have marred the American landscape.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJames G. Garrison \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Contributes to a discussion our society must hold if we are to shape our world as it continues to change at a dizzying pace.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMichiko Kakutani \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Provocative and entertaining.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Howard Kunstler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the author of eight novels. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and an editor for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eRolling Stone,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand is a frequent contributor to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Sunday Magazine.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e He lives in upstate New York.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFree Press\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePub Date: \u003cspan\u003eJuly 26, 1994\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e0.81\" H x 8.39\" L x 5.5\" W\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e304 pages\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003epaperback\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44953212649658,"sku":"9780671888251","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0444\/2213\/5968\/files\/81TB9Iq9h_L._SL1500.jpg?v=1751124814","url":"https:\/\/naturenurture.shop\/products\/geography-of-nowhere-the-rise-and-declineof-americas-man-made-landscape-by-james-howard-kunstler","provider":"nature+nurture","version":"1.0","type":"link"}