Whatever Happened to the White Picket Fences Restoring the American Dream by Rebuilding Community

Whatever Happened to the White Picket Fences Restoring the American Dream by Rebuilding Community
Author: Chris McCormick
Publisher: Chris McCormick
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2024-08-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

"Whatever Happened to the White Picket Fences: Restoring the American Dream by Rebuilding Community" demonstrates a clear and consistent thematic continuity throughout its narrative. The central theme revolves around the decline of the American middle class and the erosion of community values, with a strong emphasis on the need to rebuild and restore both. The author consistently weaves together personal anecdotes, historical references, and social commentary to support this central theme. They begin by reminiscing about their childhood in the 1960s, a time they perceive as characterized by stronger communities and a more prosperous middle class. This sets the stage for a discussion of the factors that have contributed to the decline of the middle class, such as Reaganomics, corporate greed, and the erosion of unions. The author then explores various strategies for rebuilding the middle class and restoring community values. These include supporting local businesses, promoting vocational education, revitalizing main streets, embracing sustainable practices, and fostering civic engagement. Throughout the document, the author emphasizes the importance of individual action and collective responsibility in achieving these goals. While the document touches upon various subtopics, such as the rise of corporate landlords, the gig economy, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, these are all connected to the central theme of rebuilding the middle class and restoring community. The author effectively links these seemingly disparate topics by highlighting their impact on the economic and social well-being of individuals and communities. The document's continuity is further enhanced by the author's consistent use of language and tone. The writing style is personal and conversational, drawing the reader in with anecdotes and relatable experiences. The author's passion for the subject matter is evident throughout, creating a sense of urgency and inspiring readers to take action. In conclusion, "Whatever Happened to the White Picket Fences: Restoring the Middle Class by Rebuilding Community" demonstrates strong thematic continuity, effectively weaving together personal experiences, historical context, and social commentary to present a compelling argument for the need to rebuild the middle class and restore community values.

Behold, America

Behold, America
Author: Sarah Churchwell
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2018-10-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1541673425

A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2018 The unknown history of two ideas crucial to the struggle over what America stands for In Behold, America, Sarah Churchwell offers a surprising account of twentieth-century Americans' fierce battle for the nation's soul. It follows the stories of two phrases -- the "American dream" and "America First" -- that once embodied opposing visions for America. Starting as a Republican motto before becoming a hugely influential isolationist slogan during World War I, America First was always closely linked with authoritarianism and white supremacy. The American dream, meanwhile, initially represented a broad vision of democratic and economic equality. Churchwell traces these notions through the 1920s boom, the Depression, and the rise of fascism at home and abroad, laying bare the persistent appeal of demagoguery in America and showing us how it was resisted. At a time when many ask what America's future holds, Behold, America is a revelatory, unvarnished portrait of where we have been.

Tightrope

Tightrope
Author: Nicholas D. Kristof
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0525564179

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • With stark poignancy and political dispassion Tightrope addresses the crisis in working-class America while focusing on solutions to mend a half century of governmental failure. This must-read book from the authors of Half the Sky “shows how we can and must do better” (Katie Couric). "A deft and uniquely credible exploration of rural America, and of other left-behind pockets of our country. One of the most important books I've read on the state of our disunion."—Tara Westover, author of Educated Drawing us deep into an “other America,” the authors tell this story, in part, through the lives of some of the people with whom Kristof grew up, in rural Yamhill, Oregon. It’s an area that prospered for much of the twentieth century but has been devastated in the last few decades as blue-collar jobs disappeared. About a quarter of the children on Kristof’s old school bus died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide, or reckless accidents. While these particular stories unfolded in one corner of the country, they are representative of many places the authors write about, ranging from the Dakotas and Oklahoma to New York and Virginia. With their superb, nuanced reportage, Kristof and WuDunn have given us a book that is both riveting and impossible to ignore.

Weird Like Us

Weird Like Us
Author: Ann Powers
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2000
Genre: Bohemianism
ISBN: 0684838087

Describes the various subcultures trying to reshape America today, and includes interviews with modern bohemians, who share their views on life.

Walk With Me: New York

Walk With Me: New York
Author: Susan Kaufman
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2022-05-24
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 1647007496

From photographer Susan Kaufman, an intimate celebration of the beauty and charm of New York City For some people, New York City exists only in their imaginations, a big-screen beacon of wonder and twenty-four seven delight. For others, it’s a dream destination: the diverse urban center where they will finally feel they belong. And still for many, it’s the place they already call home. No matter how you view New York, longtime fashion editor and photographer Susan Kaufman will help you see the city with fresh, appreciative eyes. As she travels with her camera through New York, Susan Kaufman invites readers to see the city as she does: from the sidewalk. She explores the beauty of the city found in its charming townhouses, decorated shops, lovely parks, shop facades, and serene streetscapes. New York may be known as the city that never sleeps, but beneath the bustle, there’s a soulful side, with its own quiet power and universal allure. Walk with Me New York invites readers to appreciate the streets and buildings that have made the world’s most iconic city survive centuries of change yet retain its vitality and aspirational magnetism.

Hoosiers and the American Story

Hoosiers and the American Story
Author: Madison, James H.
Publisher: Indiana Historical Society
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2014-10
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0871953633

A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.

The Man who Created Paradise

The Man who Created Paradise
Author: Gene Logsdon
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2001
Genre: Farm life
ISBN: 9780821414071

Gene Logsdon’s The Man Who Created Paradise is a message of hope at a time when the sustainability of the earth appears to many to be hopeless. The fable, inspired by a true story, tells how young Wally Spero looked at one of the bleakest places in America—the strip-mined spoil banks of southeastern Ohio—and saw in it his escape from the drudgery of his factory job. He bought an old bulldozer and used the machine to carve patiently, acre by acre, a beautiful little farm out of a seemingly worthless wasteland. This charming story is the purest distillation yet of what Gene Logsdon has been writing as a journalist and author through the course of some twenty books of nonfiction and hundreds of magazine articles. Environmental restoration is the task of our time. The work of healing our land begins in our own backyards and farms, in our neighborhoods and our regions. Humans can turn the earth into a veritable paradise—if they really want to.Noted photographer Gregory Spaid retraced the trail that Logsdon traveled when he was inspired to write The Man Who Created Paradise. His photographs evoke the same soulful yearning for wholeness, for ties to land and community, that infuses the fable’s hopeful, poetic prose. Seldom have words and images complemented each other so well.

Charter of the New Urbanism

Charter of the New Urbanism
Author: Congress for the New Urbanism
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2000
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

An agenda for thriving urban centers, the San Francisco-based Congress for the New Urbanism is a leading force for modern design that encourages viable neighborhoods, conserves natural environments, and preserves our architectural heritage. Charter of the New Urbanism introduces you to the work of the world-class planners, architects and other professionals who are making the new urbanism happen. Charter contributors, including Andres Duany, Peter Calthorpe, and Liz Moule, explain strategies that range from large-scale, regional, to small-scale: blocks, streets and buildings. Revealing case studies help you understand the impact of geography, economics,development and urban patterns, public and private uses, transportation and pedestrian access, housing, building densities and land uses, codes, parks, shared use, safety, preservation and renewal, community identity and much more in this invaluable resource for design professionals.

Die A Little

Die A Little
Author: Megan Abbott
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2008-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1847395872

Die A Little tells the story of Lora King, a schoolteacher, and her brother Bill, a junior investigator with the district attorney's office. Lora's comfortable, suburban life is jarringly disrupted when Bill falls in love and marries a glamorous yet mysterious young woman named Alice Steele, a Hollywood wardrobe assistant. Lora soon begins to suspect that things aren't all they seem with Alice. Spurred on by inconsistencies in Alice's personal history, Lora finds herself lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy Los Angeles. She uncovers a shadowy world of drugs, prostitution, and ultimately, murder. But the deeper Lora digs to uncover Alice's secrets, the more her own life begins to resemble Alice's sinister past - and present.

Who Rules America Now?

Who Rules America Now?
Author: G. William Domhoff
Publisher: Touchstone
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1986
Genre: History
ISBN:

The author is convinced that there is a ruling class in America today. He examines the American power structure as it has developed in the 1980s. He presents systematic, empirical evidence that a fixed group of privileged people dominates the American economy and government. The book demonstrates that an upper class comprising only one-half of one percent of the population occupies key positions within the corporate community. It shows how leaders within this "power elite" reach government and dominate it through processes of special-interest lobbying, policy planning and candidate selection. It is written not to promote any political ideology, but to analyze our society with accuracy.