The Geography of Nowhere

The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape

By: James Howard Kunstler

Narrated by: Al Kessel

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

In elegant and often hilarious prose, Kunstler depicts our nation's evolution from the Pilgrim settlements to the modern auto suburb in all its ghastliness. The Geography of Nowhere tallies up the huge economic, social, and spiritual costs that America is paying for its car-crazed lifestyle. It is also a wake-up call for citizens to reinvent the places where we live and work, to build communities that are once again worthy of our affection. Kunstler proposes that by reviving civic art and civic life, we will rediscover public virtue and a new vision of the common good. "The future will require us to build better places," Kunstler says, "or the future will belong to other people in other societies."

The Geography of Nowhere has become a touchstone work in the two decades since its initial publication, its incisive commentary giving language to the feeling of millions of Americans that our nation's suburban environments were ceasing to be credible human habitats. Since that time, the work has inspired city planners, architects, legislators, designers, and citizens everywhere.

©1993, 2016 James Howard Kunstler (P)2019 Tantor

Timeless and Prescient

While JHK’s predictions for oil supply collapse has yet to occur, his analysis of what is wrong with the built environment in America remains spot on. This should be required reading for every planning student and city elected official.

Explains so much about what your see around you

Have you ever wondered why housing developments have no stores? Why strip malls have no apartments above them? That's because zoning made it illegal in the US for most of the 20th century. Zoning laws were heavily influenced by companies that wanted you to drive to the necessities of life.

This observation, and many other aha moments about the urban and suburban landscape are explained here. Everything happens for a reason, the say, but most of the time that reason is because somebody else is profiting from it. The book has many more examples, like how one streetcar company tore out all its own lines within 18 months of being acquired by a holding company owned by an oil company, a car company, and a tire company.

There is an especially interesting chapter about how fascist adoption of pseudo-classical architectural traditions in mid-century Europe made brutalists look good in the US. As a result, unadorned concrete, steel or glass slab buildings spread like kudzu.

One of the most influential books I've read in decades, right up there with, for instance, "The Power Broker".

narrator. adds full stops. for no reason.

the book is great. the narrator has weird punctuation, stopping in the middle of a sentence for no reason. very irritating.

Well-researched rant

Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” drawn out into a darkly funny rant about American civic development.

Narrator sounds like a bitter Rod Serling doing an infomercial. It was a strong choice and distracting. But ultimately added to the hilarity. An interesting story.

The ugly result

A careful, painstakingly detailed log of our freeway to nowhere. Beautiful. More words are not required to compliment this labour of love.

Suburbia Jeremiad with poor narration

While this book was well researched, Kunstler does not take into account population growth since WW2. We can’t fit nearly 8 billion people into small towns. Still, it made me think about the cost of suburban neighborhoods, and made me a little depressed. The narrator sounded like he was merely pronouncing the individual words and not actually paying attention to the content, resulting in a choppy, disjointed, channel 5 news talking head style that was not pleasant to hear for 12 hours.

Would be much better as a documentary series

I liked the subject matter and the author did a great job; the research seemed very thorough and was presented in a way that was easy to follow. However a lot of the imagery would have benefited from concrete visuals to truly drive the authors point home in a way that manages to keep the listener engaged. TLDR: too lengthy for a listen.

An honest opinion of an empire of wretched excess.

I would, were I able, have this fine work read by someone else. The presenters whining, the pearl clutching emphasis of words and phrases distract from the author’s irony.
The content is historically very informative, though recent history has exposed some few faults in the planning. Blowback is apparent in the homeless population and violent nihilism of “idyllic Portland” (though I get the impression that the author would simply blame this on Trump or Libertarians).
Many sensible suggestions in this work should be taken by city councils and residents of small towns, particularly small resort towns. My own city council and manager will be urged to read The Geography of Nowhere.

Really good food for thought

I really appreciated the perspective of the author. I did feel that he would go on a bit of a rant from time to time. Definitely words worth considering in your quest to decide your opinion of the world as we currently know it and the future we have yet to unveil.

Happy Car Armageddon

A realistc presentation of the sad and depressing state of America's aesthetic but read in the tone of a children's bedtime story. A gritty story read with a happy sounding voice diminished the severity of the circumstances we are in.