Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States

In Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, historian Kenneth T. Jackson looks at what, at the time of the book's publication in 1985, was a startling new phenomenon: the emergence and rapid popularization of life in the American suburb. Jackson explores his subject through a variety of lenses, including economics, land and transportation studies, psychology, sociology, and, of course, history. The result is an all-encompassing narrative that chronicles something uniquely American: the suburban experience.

The volume opens with an introduction in which Jackson names the four components that comprise suburban life. This is a theme that is expounded upon throughout the rest of the book. First, the suburbs must be functional, providing non-acreage residential options with a certain degree of comfort and convenience. Second, they must appeal to middle- and upper-class homebuyers, people for whom escaping urban life is a realistic goal. Third, suburbs must have an element of separation that divides the dweller's home and work lives; in other words, individuals must travel to reach their place of employment. Finally, population density must be lower, thereby creating a more rural—but not too rural—atmosphere. Jackson also posits the theory that it is actually the elite classes, not the middle or working classes, that first make the migration to the suburbs, and middle-income folks only follow suit as a means of escaping the burden of skyrocketing city taxes.

Jackson identifies the Industrial Revolution as a turning point in American residential life. Before this, cities were well defined, delineated by solid boundaries, and one could easily walk to a physical point where a city stopped and the country began. But the ever-growing commercial landscape of modern cities put a stop to all of that. Now, people flock to cities because that's where the bulk of the moneymaking opportunity is. There is a combination of both residential and commercial functions within cities and even within individual neighborhoods, and there is a combination of all social classes within neighborhoods as well. As people make more and more money, the divide between the classes grows wider and more cavernous. The rich become less thrilled about living among poor laborers, so the appeal of the suburbs beckons them, and the middle classes follow.



Transportation also plays a key role in the evolution and popularity of the suburbs. Gone are the days when horses or carriages—both obviously time-consuming and inconvenient—were the norm. Buses, cable cars, horsecars, railroads, and steam ferries all emerged in the nineteenth century, coinciding with or coming shortly after the Industrial Revolution. But no mode of transportation makes suburban life more inevitable than the automobile. Though the influence is initially minor, the car trend catches on, making daily commutes a snap.

Another factor that figures into Jackson's examination of the flight to the suburbs is immigration. Because of the changing cultural tides of certain neighborhoods, some city-dwellers—predominantly white folks—flock to what they perceive as a quieter and more homogenous life in the suburbs. "By 1910 about 80 percent of all new arrivals at Ellis Island were remaining in cities, as were 72 percent of all of those 'foreign-born,'" Jackson writes. "Toward the end of the nineteenth century, mayors in New York, Chicago, and Boston were being elected by immigrant votes." Since immigrants speak common languages and share cultural identities, they naturally congregate together in specific neighborhoods.

Also, the New Deal affects public housing in the United States. Jackson asserts that the resulting public housing program only serves to further segregate the races, essentially imprisoning the economically disadvantaged in the inner cities. This, in turn, leads to the popular image of the suburbs as "a refuge for the problems of race, crime, and poverty."



After World War II, more Americans can afford to buy houses because of government assistance programs for veterans. Suddenly, the dream of living in the suburbs is possible for a huge portion of the population that previously didn't have the opportunity. This triggers an unfettered exodus to the suburbs and outskirts, and soon these previously-small towns are their own independent, self-sufficient economies. "For better or worse," Jackson opines, "the American suburb is a remarkable and probably lasting achievement."

Crabgrass Frontier offers a multifaceted understanding of one of the defining characteristics of the contemporary American landscape. It is, in the end, too easy to say that the suburbs are the result of good or bad politics, or good or bad social change, or good or bad inventions. The suburbs are the result of some of the best aspects of modern American history—and some of the worst.

Crabgrass Frontier is a classic in its own right. It makes complicated technical and social histories accessible to readers. The volume won Columbia University's Bancroft Award, as well as the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians.