Sophia C. reviewed on 9/18/2011 + 289 more book reviews

Home from Nowhere picks up where The Geography of Nowhere leaves off. Having spent some time traveling and hanging out with people in the New Urbanist movement, James Howard Kunstler adds some real life examples to accentuate the points in his previous book. There's a lot of repetition, especially of the curmudgeonly criticism of the built American landscape. Throw in some of his social critique, and I started to wonder about whether Kunstler is some ultra-conservative seeking a bygone Golden Age in small town Main Street America. However, Kunstler becomes more pleasant to read when he describes things he admires, among them, an organic farm in later chapters. I think there's some coherence to his idea that our physical surroundings have contributed to disintegration of social bonds and economic trends, themes one can explore further with Robert Putnam and Michael Pollan.

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