Suburban Dreams

Imagining and Building the Good Life

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Public Speaking, Rhetoric, Communication
Cover of the book Suburban Dreams by Greg Dickinson, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Greg Dickinson ISBN: 9780817388119
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: June 15, 2015
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Greg Dickinson
ISBN: 9780817388119
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: June 15, 2015
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

2016 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award finalist

Starting with the premise that suburban films, residential neighborhoods, chain restaurants, malls, and megachurches are compelling forms (topos) that shape and materialize the everyday lives of residents and visitors, Greg Dickinson’s Suburban Dreams offers a rhetorically attuned critical analysis of contemporary American suburbs and the “good life” their residents pursue.
 
Dickinson’s analysis suggests that the good life is rooted in memory and locality, both of which are foundations for creating a sense of safety central to the success of suburbs. His argument is situated first in a discussion of the intersections among buildings, cities, and the good life and the challenges to these relationships wrought by the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The argument then turns to rich, fully-embodied analyses of suburban films and a series of archetypal suburban landscapes to explore how memory, locality, and safety interact in constructing the suburban imaginary. Moving from the pastoralism of residential neighborhoods and chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill, through the megachurch’s veneration of suburban malls to the mixed-use lifestyle center’s nostalgic invocation of urban downtowns, Dickinson complicates traditional understandings of the ways suburbs situate residents and visitors in time and place.
 
The analysis suggests that the suburban good life is devoted to family. Framed by the discourses of consumer culture, the suburbs often privilege walls and roots to an expansive vision of worldliness. At the same time, developments such as farmers markets suggest a continued striving by suburbanites to form relationships in a richer, more organic fashion.
 
Dickinson’s work eschews casually dismissive attitudes toward the suburbs and the pursuit of the good life. Rather, he succeeds in showing how by identifying the positive rhetorical resources the suburbs supply, it is in fact possible to engage with the suburbs intentionally, thoughtfully, and rigorously. Beyond an analysis of the suburban imaginary, Suburban Dreams demonstrates how a critical engagement with everyday places can enrich daily life. The book provides much of interest to students and scholars of rhetoric, communication studies, public memory, American studies, architecture, and urban planning.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

2016 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award finalist

Starting with the premise that suburban films, residential neighborhoods, chain restaurants, malls, and megachurches are compelling forms (topos) that shape and materialize the everyday lives of residents and visitors, Greg Dickinson’s Suburban Dreams offers a rhetorically attuned critical analysis of contemporary American suburbs and the “good life” their residents pursue.
 
Dickinson’s analysis suggests that the good life is rooted in memory and locality, both of which are foundations for creating a sense of safety central to the success of suburbs. His argument is situated first in a discussion of the intersections among buildings, cities, and the good life and the challenges to these relationships wrought by the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The argument then turns to rich, fully-embodied analyses of suburban films and a series of archetypal suburban landscapes to explore how memory, locality, and safety interact in constructing the suburban imaginary. Moving from the pastoralism of residential neighborhoods and chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill, through the megachurch’s veneration of suburban malls to the mixed-use lifestyle center’s nostalgic invocation of urban downtowns, Dickinson complicates traditional understandings of the ways suburbs situate residents and visitors in time and place.
 
The analysis suggests that the suburban good life is devoted to family. Framed by the discourses of consumer culture, the suburbs often privilege walls and roots to an expansive vision of worldliness. At the same time, developments such as farmers markets suggest a continued striving by suburbanites to form relationships in a richer, more organic fashion.
 
Dickinson’s work eschews casually dismissive attitudes toward the suburbs and the pursuit of the good life. Rather, he succeeds in showing how by identifying the positive rhetorical resources the suburbs supply, it is in fact possible to engage with the suburbs intentionally, thoughtfully, and rigorously. Beyond an analysis of the suburban imaginary, Suburban Dreams demonstrates how a critical engagement with everyday places can enrich daily life. The book provides much of interest to students and scholars of rhetoric, communication studies, public memory, American studies, architecture, and urban planning.

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Willa Cather and Material Culture by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book The Style of Hawthorne's Gaze by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Fitzgerald-Wilson-Hemingway by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Charles S. Peirce and the Philosophy of Science by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Ceramics, Chronology, and Community Patterns by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Treatise On Laughter by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book The Great War in the Air by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Florida and the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Epistolary Responses by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book The Voyage of the CSS Shenandoah by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Edgar and Brigitte by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Protecting Heritage in the Caribbean by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Archaeology and Ancient Religion in the American Midcontinent by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book Rhetorical Knowledge in Legal Practice and Critical Legal Theory by Greg Dickinson
Cover of the book The Politics of Trust by Greg Dickinson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy