Perfect Communities: Levitt, Levittown, and the Dream of White Suburbia

by Edward Berenson

The rise and fall of William J. Levitt, the man who made the suburban house a mass commodity

Two material artifacts defined the middle-class American lifestyle in the mid-twentieth century: the automobile, which brought with it gas stations, highways, commercial strips, and sprawl; and the single-family suburban home, the repository of many families' long-term wealth and the place where people hope to live out the American Dream. But...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300259549
• ISBN13: 9780300259544
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 384 Pages