suburban sprawl. In words and pictures, the book contrasts the pleasant, pastoral images we like to hold of America's towns and countryside with what is increasingly becoming the reality - bulldozed farmland, abandoned factories and row homes, glutted highways, and sterile housing developments. Hylton contends that these problems are an outgrowth of a trend in professional planning which began in the 1930's of grouping similar land uses together, and of post-World War II government policies that encouraged suburban development. Hylton describes the subtle ways in which the development patterns of the past fifty years have contributed to the decline of our sense of community. Suburban-type development seems designed to separate - to separate homes from places of work, to separate different economic classes and races, and perhaps most importantly, to separate individuals from each other. The separation of individuals is caused by the size of suburban lots and by the need to use cars to get anywhere. Hylton cites one poignant example of the isolation that results from these trends: there are far fewer opportunities for children who live in suburban developments to visit with older people. A change in public policy to encourage building true communities would strike at the root of many problems for which we now seek simple solutions, including political hot button issues such as welfare reform and, yes, even crime. Anyone who is concerned about the future of our environment and quality of life will find ample evidence that we need to combat sprawl and nurture communities. The book has been reprinted and revised five times since it was first published in 1995. The book was most recently revised and updated in 2008.

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