{"product_id":"suburban-dreams-greg-dickinson-9780817360436","title":"Suburban Dreams: Imagining and Building the Good Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e2016 \u003ci\u003eChoice \u003c\/i\u003eOutstanding Academic Title and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eJane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eExplores how the suburban imaginary, composed of the built environment and imaginative texts, functions as a resource for living out the \"good life\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Starting with the premise that suburban films, residential neighborhoods, chain restaurants, malls, and megachurches are compelling forms (\u003ci\u003etopos\u003c\/i\u003e) that shape and materialize the everyday lives of residents and visitors, Greg Dickinson's \u003ci\u003eSuburban Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e offers a rhetorically attuned critical analysis of contemporary American suburbs and the \"good life\" their residents pursue. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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, \u003ci\u003eSuburban Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Greg Dickinson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0817360433\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780817360436\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Alabama Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.88lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d","brand":"Greg Dickinson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43993228902655,"sku":"9780817360436","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_3b9175cc-c54e-4fe1-b28a-4822a6f76c52.jpg?v=1683323220","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/suburban-dreams-greg-dickinson-9780817360436","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}