Levittown

The explosive true story of the first African-American family to move into one of America's most iconic suburbs, Levittown, Pennsylvania. In the decade after World War II, one entrepreneurial family helped thousands of people buy into the American dream of owning a home, not just any home, but a good one, with all the modern conveniences. The Levitts--two brothers, William and Alfred, and their father, Abe--pooled their talents in land use, architecture, and sales to create story book town with affordable little houses. They laid out the welcome mat, but not to everyone. Levittown had a whites-only policy. This is the story that unfolded in Levittown, PA, one unseasonably hot summer in 1957 on a quiet street called Deepgreen Lane. There, a white Jewish Communist family named Wechsler secretly arranged for a black family, the Myers, to buy the little pink house next door. What followed was an explosive summer of violence that would transform their lives, and the nation. It would lead to the downfall of a titan, and the integration of the most famous suburb in the world. It's a story of hope and fear, invention and rebellion, and the power that comes when ordinary people take an extraordinary stand.

"Inverting the conventional history of American suburbanization, Tim Keogh turns the spotlight from wealth and freedom to poverty and inequality. Focusing on the archetypal Long Island communities of the postwar era, Keogh shows that a key driver of suburban development and the segregation it embodied was not housing but employment. Inequality and injustice were baked into suburban development, but housing discrimination was a secondary expression of this, not a primary cause. As a result, equity-minded suburbs that focused on housing policy rather than employment opportunities were doomed to fail. Keogh hopes to motivate more effective approaches to contemporary inequity by changing our understanding of how it took shape historically"--

When developer Abraham Levitt and his two sons conceived the idea for Levittown in 1946, they were probably unaware of the future impact of their radical concept--to build cellarless, affordable tract housing on Long Island farmland. Levittown became the prototype suburban community that has been mirrored in towns throughout America and around the world. This delightful photographic history chronicles the growth and development of Levittown as returning World War II GIs flocked to it in droves, attracted by the promise of the American Dream of becoming homeowners. Despite criticism of its "stunning conformity," Levittown and its residents thrived as they raised families, started businesses, and created a close-knit community that exists to this day. This enchanting collection of photographs reveals the joys and struggles of Levittown's founders and residents as they carved their niche in American history.

It's a plain fact: regardless of how smart, creative, and innovative your organization is, there are more smart, creative, and innovative people outside your organization than inside. Open source offers the possibility of bringing more innovation into your business by building a creative community that reaches beyond the barriers of the business. The key is developing a web-driven community where new types of collaboration and creativity can flourish. Since 1998 Ron Goldman and Richard Gabriel have been helping groups at Sun Microsystems understand open source and advising them on how to build successful communities around open source projects. In this book the authors present lessons learned from their own experiences with open source, as well as those from other well-known projects such as Linux, Apache, and Mozilla. * Winner of 2006 Jolt Productivity Award for General Books * Describes how open source development works and offers persuasive reasons for using it to help achieve business goals. * Shows how to use open source in day-to-day work, discusses the various licenses in use, and describes what makes for a successful project. * Written in an engaging style for executives, managers, and engineers that addresses the human and business issues involved in open source development as well as its history, philosophy, and future

Second Suburb uncovers the unique story of Levittown, Pennsylvania, and its significance to American social, architectural, environmental, and political history.