Synopses & Reviews
When Witold Rybczynski first heard about New Daleville, it was only a developer's idea, attached to ninety acres of cornfield an hour and a half west of Philadelphia. Over the course of five years, Rybczynski met and talked to everyone involved in the building of this residential subdivision -- from the developers to the township leaders, whose approval they needed, to the home builders and engineers and, ultimately, the first families who moved in.
Always eloquent and illuminating, the award-winning author of Home and A Clearing in the Distance looks at this "neotraditional" project, with its houses built close together to encourage a sense of intimacy and community, and explains the trends in American domestic architecture -- from where we place our kitchens and fences to why our bathrooms get larger every year.
Last Harvest was voted one of the ten best books of 2008 by the editors of Planetizen, and as Publishers Weekly said, "Rybczynski provides historical and cultural perspectives in a style reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell, debunking the myth of urban sprawl and explaining American homeowners' preference for single-family dwellings."
Review
"Compelling...wonderfully readable...Last Harvest explains why America looks the way it does." - The Wall Street Journal
Review
"Terrific...Steeped in historical knowledge." - USA Today
Review
"Rybczynski is a graceful, personable writer whose considerable erudition is in service to his storyteller's curiosity." - Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post
Review
"Understanding the business of real estate requires an appreciation of its many aesthetic, economic, historical, physical, political, psychological, structural, and countless other aspects, and Last Harvest is a primer on them all." - Henry Petroski, author of Successess through Failure: The Paradox of Design
Review
"Rybczynski provides historical and cultural perspectives in a style reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell, debunking the myth of urban sprawl and explaining American homeowners' preference for single-family dwellings." - Publishers Weekly
Review
"Rybczynski has a prose style so well designed, even dry bits of design history are as absorbing as a down-filled sofa." - David Colman, The New York Times
Review
"Rybczynski has written about the world of American architecture with a simple, rare clarity." - Annie Dawid, The Oregonian
Review
"Maybe you like the way America is being built, maybe you don't, but either way you will not find a more absorbing or patient look at the real real estate process than this elegant time-lapse portrait of a neighborhood-to-be. Witold Rybczynski is the poet laureate of what you haven't noticed that's probably right in front of you." -- Robert Sullivan, author of Cross Country: Fifteen Years and 90,000 Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America
Review
"Nowhere do pretty hypotheses get blast-tested by the facts as in the work of Witold Rybczynski. He is not the kind of scholar who looks at perfectly functional realities and asks whether they can possibly work in theory. Instead, in Last Harvest Rybczynski is our engaging and authentic guide, immersing us in a fascinating narrative of how real people live, work, play -- and build. Last Harvest is The Soul of a New Machine for the new urbanism." -- Joel Garreau, author of Edge City: Life on the New Frontier
Review
"The master has done it again. His best book ever. It is a must-read for anyone interested in urban development. This seemingly simple example sheds light on suburban development and, in the process, why affordable housing is disappearing." -- Dr. Peter Linneman, Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance and Business Public Policy, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Review
"A rich history of U.S. development, from the Founding Fathers to the dreamers who conceived the first automobile suburbs in the early part of the last century and on to today's foot soldiers in the movement called New Urbanism." - BusinessessWeek
Review
"From the initial planning to the home construction to the selling of properties, the five-year project was a challenge for everyone involved, and the author was there every step of the way. Woven into his story are reflections on how American architectural tastes have changed throughout history and how we balance our individuality with [the] need for community." - Jennifer Caesar, New York Post
Review
"Entertaining and frequently enlightening." - Penelope Green, The New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Witold Rybczynski, born in Edinburgh, raised in Canada, and currently living in Philadelphia, is the Meyerson Professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written on architecture and urbanism for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker and Slate, and is the author of the critically acclaimed Home and the A Clearing in the Distance, a biography of frederick Law Olmsted, for which he was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Prize. He is the recipient of the National Building Museum’s 2007 Vincent Scully Prize.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
PART ONE
Prologue
1. The Developer
2. Seaside
3. Epiphanies
4. Last Harvest
5. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Estate
6. Joe's Deal
7. On the Bus
8. Meetings
9. Scatteration
10. More Meetings
PART TWO
11. Drop by Drop
12. On the Way to Exurbia
13. Design Matters
14. Locked In
15. House and Home
16. Generic Traditional
17. The Dream
18. Builders 19. A Compromise
PART THREE
20. Trade-offs
21. Mike and Mike
22. Ranchers, Picture Windows, and Morning Rooms
23. Pushing Dirt
24. The Market Rules
25. Bumps in the Road
26. Hard Sell
27. Competition
28. The Spreadsheet Buyers 29. Moving Day
POSTSCRIPT
A NEW AFTERWORD
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index