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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).
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.
"Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, authors of Weird U.S., present."
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Jon W. C. Flanagan is in his mid-sixties when a combination of auto accident, stroke, and seizure leaves him apparently comatose. Involuntary reflexes remain; he can breathe on his own, but is unable to move. Unbeknownst to the medical team, he can see and hear. Expected to quickly pass away, he lingers reflecting on his life while observing the staff and infrequent family/friend visitors. He develops a relationship of sorts with Rachel, the primary treating nurse who is less sure of the diagnosis than the physicians. Meanwhile, an ‘angel of death’ is working in the hospital. Flanagan identifies the killer and determines to somehow tell Rachel. His life now is a race against time and a quest to perform a final, perhaps his only heroic act. Provided a rare gift of total self-reflection, he is provided a rarer opportunity for personal redemption.