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Kunstler's subtitle encapsulates the thrust of his effort. This volume is a sequel to his previous book, The Geography of Nowhere. Here he reworks some of his earlier notions then extrapolates in detail. He acknowledges being neither an architect, nor a planner, nor a politician -- simply a concerned citizen with the guts to speak his mind and take the pains to convince anyone else who cares about the future.
Kunstler contends that after World War II, the returning Yankee citizen-soldiers, flushed with the exhilaration of victory, readily abandoned the old home town, the corner drugstore, the girl next door, in favor of fabricating an "American Dream." That would consist in a nondescript shingled house on a curved cul-de-sac in a zoned development far from anything else. It would have a fenced-in back yard in which the "host" in a fancy apron would barbecue burgers for the gang while they discuss the merits of sports cars and the latest TV sitcom.
That seemed to recall to my mind a folk song of the late '60s that told of "Little boxes made of ticky tacky, all in a row." The idea of belabored, conforming mediocrity is legion, but Kunstler is the first one to collect it all in one place and display it in conversational terms, eschewing scholarly pomposity.
He decries zoning laws as anti-social because they put commerce in one place, schools in another, malls in a third, and residences in yet another (then those are segregated into income classes). That tends to isolate entities at distances requiring cars to move among them: a consequence of cheap gasoline. Kunstler mourns the loss of the sense of community that Hometown America enjoyed. Main Street, USA, was a large common "ante-room" to the houses, the stores, and the public offices along it, all within walking distance. It afforded children and the elderly an ability to participate in their neighborhood. Then came the mass exodus to candyland: the sense of community was lost.
Further, Kunstler argues, this is also happening to big cities through misguided zoned urban renewal plans. He writes in glowing terms about New York City and its ageless neighborhood structure, wherein he also admits to the rotted inner-city spots of urban blight.
But he isn't all critical. In his chapter on "Creating Someplace," he offers seven strong, significant suggestions on how to reverse the trend: to make neighborhoods of five-minute walking distance from a center, where residence, business, and public facilities thrive among the passable streets; where local shopkeepers care about their customers; and where people can interact, with a sense of connectedness.
Home from Nowhere should appeal to everyone concerned with the world around us. He acknowledges that not all people's sympathetic strings resonate with his honest notions: "My mom's reaction to the suburban voids of Florida was unalloyed horror, and the Floridian's view of her world is similar."
Either you agree with him enthusiastically (you'll then want more ammunal material); or you differ vehemently (then you'll want all his arguments to shred); or you are noncommittal (and you want to be pushed into either camp). But you are trapped to read on because he hits you where you live.
M.D. Morris is a writer and editor who lives in Ithaca, New York.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.