PositiveThe New York Times Book Review\"...an important, cleareyed account of suburban boom and bust, and the challenges facing the country today ... The suburbs were \'a ticking time bomb,\' the explosion set to go off after only a few generations. Many of them, built on white exclusivity, avoided town planning as well as diversifying their economies, fearing opening themselves to racial integration ... The multiple rotating narratives can feel disorienting, and the results are uneven. But each suburb’s history is engrossing, and Herold, a journalist who has frequently reported on public education, delivers an up-close, intimate account of life there that resounds with broader meaning. The families also reflect the expanding range of people who now call American suburbs home ... Herold focuses on each family’s attempts to navigate schools for their children. It’s a missed opportunity to explore other social institutions, and the different ways suburbs function or fail to. Yet the emphasis on schools is revealing.\
