In Levittown's shadow : poverty in America's wealthiest postwar suburb / Tim Keogh.

Title:

ISBN:

9780226827735

9780226827759

Personal Author:

Keogh, Tim (Historian)

Publication Information:

Chicago, IL ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2023.

Physical Description:

315 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Contents:

Introduction -- 1. Future Detroit of the East : from residential to industrial suburbia -- 2, Crabgrass wasn't always greener : poverty amidst suburban plenty -- 3. Attics, basements, and sheds : housing the poor during the suburban boom -- 4. Fair without full employment : the limits of equal opportunity -- 5. Suburban war on poverty -- 6. Shouldering their "fair share" : why the suburbs could not resolve the "urban crisis" -- 7. Long Island miracle : suburbia into the next century -- 8. Conclusion : Lessons from Long Island's past. --

Acknowledgments -- Appendix: Figure A.1. Federal poverty rates by race/ethnicity, Long Island, 1960-2012 ; Figure A.2. Map of Long Island with references to key hamlets ; Figure A.3. Employment by sector, Nassau-Suffolk, 1952-2016 ; Figure A.4. Unemployment rate, Nassau-Suffolk and United States, 1958-2016 ; Table A.1. Relative poverty rate of families by race or ethnicity, Nassau and Suffolk counties, 1950-2012 ; Table A.2. Occupational distribution of employed Long Island residents, 1940-70 ; Table A.3. Demographic statistics for four case study hamlets and Long Island, 1960-2010 ; Table A.4. Housing statistics for four case study hamlets and Long Island, 1960-2010 -- List of Abbreviations -- [Bibliographical] notes (pages [259]-307) -- Index.

Summary:

"Inverting the conventional history of American suburbanization, Tim Keogh turns the spotlight from wealth and freedom to poverty and inequality. Focusing on the archetypal Long Island communities of the postwar era, Keogh shows that a key driver of suburban development and the segregation it embodied was not housing but employment. Inequality and injustice were baked into suburban development, but housing discrimination was a secondary expression of this, not a primary cause. As a result, equity-minded suburbs that focused on housing policy rather than employment opportunities were doomed to fail. Keogh hopes to motivate more effective approaches to contemporary inequity by changing our understanding of how it took shape historically"-- Provided by publisher.

Geographic Term:

Long Island (N.Y.) -- History -- 20th century

Subject Term:

Suburbs--New York (State)--Long Island -- History 20th century

Poverty--New York (State)--Long Island

Poor people--New York (State)--Long Island -- Social conditions 20th century

Discrimination in housing--New York (State)--Long Island -- History 20th century

Economic assistance, Domestic--United States -- History 20th century

Equality -- Economic aspects--New York (State)--Long Island

Suburbs--New York (State)--Long Island -- Economic conditions 20th century

Genre:

History