Leisureville

Leisureville
Author: Andrew D. Blechman
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2009-07-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1555848443

This revealing profile “disappears down the rabbit hole [into] the largest gated retirement community in the world” and what it discovers is “fascinating” (The New York Times). When his next-door neighbors pick up and move from New England to an age-restricted “active adult” development in Florida called The Villages, Andrew D. Blechman is astonished by their stories—and determined to investigate. Sprawling across two zip codes, with a golf course for every day of the month, two downtowns, its own newspaper, radio, and TV station, The Villages is a prefab paradise for retired Baby Boomers, where “not having children around seems to free [them] to act like adolescents” (The New York Times). In the critically acclaimed Leisureville, Blechman delves into this senior utopia, offering a hilarious firsthand report on everything from ersatz nostalgia to the residents’ surprisingly active sex life. Blechman also traces the history of this phenomenon, travelling to Arizona to find out what pioneering developments like Sun City and Youngtown have become after decades of segregation. Blending incisive social commentary and colorful reportage, “Blechman describes this brave new world with determined good humor and considerable bemusement” (Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Globe).

Leisureville

Leisureville
Author: Laura Barwicke DeLind
Publisher:
Total Pages: 902
Release: 1978
Genre: Michigan
ISBN:

Leisureville

Leisureville
Author: Andrew D. Blechman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008
Genre: Retirees
ISBN: 9780871139818

Blechman delves into life in a gated retirement community and offers a hilarious, first-hand report on all its peculiarities. He also takes a serious look at the consequences of such instant cities and examines the implications of millions of Americans dropping out of society.

The Weird Club

The Weird Club
Author: Randy Fairbanks
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2007
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781402742286

"Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, authors of Weird U.S., present."

A Place Called Canterbury

A Place Called Canterbury
Author: Dudley Clendinen
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2008
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780670018840

A journalist chronicles the lives of the elderly residents of Canterbury Towers, an assisted living community, and their philosophies on old age, including the journalist's mother.

Pigeons

Pigeons
Author: Andrew D. Blechman
Publisher: Univ. of Queensland Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2007
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780702236419

They have been worshipped as fertility goddesses and revered as symbols of peace. Domesticated since the dawn of humankind, they have been crucial to wartime communications for every major historical superpower from ancient Egypt to the United States and are credited with saving thousands of lives. One delivered the results of the first Olympics in 776 BC and another brought the news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo more than 2500 years later. Charles Darwin relied heavily upon them to help formulate and support his theory of evolution. Yet today the pigeon is reviled as a rat with wings. How did we come to misunderstand one of humanity's most steadfast companions?In Pigeons, Andrew D. Blechman travels across the United States and Europe in a quest to chronicle the bird's transformation from beloved friend to feathered outlaw.

The Political Life of Children

The Political Life of Children
Author: Robert Coles
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 1986
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780871137715

Robert Coles, one of the most eminent child psychiatrists in the world, spent over a decade researching this book and its companion volume, The Moral Life of Children. Coles visits children all over the world, listening with willing ears, and he captures their thoughts and feelings with remarkable sympathy. As Coles demonstrates in this fascinating work, children learn much more than we think they do about political issues. While we have always taken it for granted that parents teach their children about language, religion, and morality, Coles shows how mothers and fathers also instill a strong understanding of political life in their offspring.

The KunstlerCast

The KunstlerCast
Author: Duncan Crary
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2011-10-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1550924729

Based off the popular podcast, this book collects one man’s conversations with an outspoken social critic on the negative effects of the suburbs. James Howard Kunstler has been described as “one of the most outrageous commentators on the American built environment.” An outspoken critic of suburban sprawl, Kunstler is often controversial and always provocative. The KunstlerCast is based on the popular weekly podcast of the same name, which features Kunstler in dialogue with author Duncan Crary, offering a personal window into Kunstler’s worldview. Presented as a long-form conversational interview, The KunstlerCast revisits and updates all the major ideas contained in Kunstler’s body of work, including: The need to rethink current sources of transportation and energy The failure of urban planning, architecture and industrial society America’s plastic, dysfunctional culture The reality of peak oil Whether sitting in the studio, strolling city streets, visiting a suburban mall or even “Happy Motoring,” the grim predictions Kunstler makes about America’s prospects are leavened by his signature sharp wit and humor. This book is rounded out by commentary, footnotes and supplemental vignettes told from the perspective of an “embedded” reporter on the Kunstler beat. Readers may or may not agree with the more dystopian of Kunstler’s visions. Regardless, The KunstlerCast is bound to inspire a great deal of thought, laughter, and hopefully, action. Praise for The KunstlerCast “A bracing dose of reality for an unreal world.” —Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics “Erudite, eloquent . . . with good humor about the hilariously grotesque North American nightmare of car-addicted suburban sprawl.” —Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse “Prepare to be enlightened, infuriated and amused.” —Gregory Greene, Director, The End of Suburbia “So enlightening yet casual that the reader feels like they’re eavesdropping into the den of Kunstler’s prodigious mind.” —Andrew D. Blechman, author of Leisureville

Refugee: An American Story

Refugee: An American Story
Author: Felix Alberto Granados
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2018-04-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1483481700

This book will take you through the improbable, unconventional and entertaining adventures of the author and his family who fled Cuba after Castro took control of their homeland in 1960.The family was led by the author's father, an ordinary man with no college education, no building experience and very little knowledge of the English language. He was a man who was not afraid to dream big and with sheer determination, boundless energy and drive led his family, like many refugees, to experience the American Dream. Their story takes you through an interesting twist of fate of a man and his family that had lost their home and country and recovered to provide affordable housing and create thousands of jobs for so many in a country that graciously welcomed them. Arriving in Miami in 1960 with only a few personal possessions, this story will take you through the family's diverse journey experiencing life in America in this fast-paced autobiography.

From Sun Cities to the Villages

From Sun Cities to the Villages
Author: Judith Ann Trolander
Publisher:
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2011
Genre: Cities and towns
ISBN: 9780813038988

Judith Ann Trolander has written a history of the 'active adult' lifestyle. Examining the origins, development, failures, and challenges facing these communities as the baby boomer population continues to age, she offers a truly original defence of a sometimes controversial aspect of American life.