Search -
Aspen/Dreams & Dilemmas: love letter to a small town
Aspen/Dreams Dilemmas love letter to a small town Author:Peggy Clifford and John M. Smith From the inside ofthe jacket: — "ASPEN is an angry love letter about one of America's great small towns and the the affluent society is doing to it. — The authors love Aspen, but they are angry about what is happening to it and other small towns. Some towns are dying. Others are being absorbed by megalopolis. Some, like Apsen, are changing. The ... more »authors argue that the American small town, as unique entity, should be preserved and defended as stoutly as conservation groups defend such natural resources as the Grand Canyon and California's redwood trees. But they do not have much hope. They believe that we are entering into an era of 'environmental collapse'; given the nature of the American people and our rapidly increasing population, we will ultimately destroy the entire country, fouling water and air, scarring meadow, forest, and mountain, and covering almost everything else with ocean-to-ocean asphalt.
But this book is more than a declaration of war on the affluent society. It is a tough-minded but soft-hearted close up look at Aspen - not the ski resort, but the small stubborn, quirky, enchanting town itself, the Apsen that few tourists see. John M. Smith and Peggy Clifford came in 1953. They know the town intimately: its magic, its mysteries, its majesty. And they understand Aspen: its foibles, its charms, its uniqueness, its value.......« less