Meet Me by the Fountain

An Inside History of the Mall

By: Alexandra Lange

Narrated by: Mikhaila Aaseng

Bloomsbury presents Meet Me by the Fountain by Alexandra Lange, read by Mikhaila Aaseng.

Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Awards

“A smart and accessible cultural history.” —Los Angeles Times

“A fantastic examination of what became the mall . . . envision[ing] a more meaningful public afterlife for our shopping centers.”—Vulture

A portrait—by turns celebratory, skeptical, and surprisingly moving—of one of America’s most iconic institutions, from an author who “might be the most influential design critic writing now” (LARB).

Few places have been as nostalgized, or as maligned, as malls. Since their birth in the 1950s, they have loomed large as temples of commerce, the agora of the suburbs. In their prime, they proved a powerful draw for creative thinkers such as Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, and George Romero, who understood the mall’s appeal as both critics and consumers. Yet today, amid the aftershocks of financial crises and a global pandemic, as well as the rise of online retail, the dystopian husk of an abandoned shopping center has become one of our era’s defining images. Conventional wisdom holds that the mall is dead. But what was the mall, really? And have rumors of its demise been greatly exaggerated?

In her acclaimed The Design of Childhood, Alexandra Lange uncovered the histories of toys, classrooms, and playgrounds. She now turns her sharp eye to another subject we only think we know. She chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. In Lange’s perceptive account, the mall becomes newly strange and rich with contradiction: Malls are environments of both freedom and exclusion—of consumerism, but also of community. Meet Me by the Fountain is a highly entertaining and evocative promenade through the mall’s story of rise, fall, and ongoing reinvention, for readers of any generation.©2022 Alexandra Lange (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Critic reviews

A smart and accessible cultural history—outlining the social, economic and architectural forces that led to the creation of U.S. malls as we know them … Lange doesn’t have a false nostalgia for malls. Meet Me by the Fountain is frank about how they have usurped public space. But at a time when malls still serve the function of bringing us together, Lange’s book is a thoughtful guide to helping them do what the best of them already have—but better.

Artfully elucidates the 70-year history of the mall ... Lange asserts that malls, as ‘blank boxes in the middle of the big empty parking lots,’ can ‘serve as a land trust’ for the 21st century. This sounds like a stretch, but it proves to be true. Some malls die, but most don’t…Ms. Lange’s elegant conclusion: The mall is dead; long live the mall.

A fantastic examination of what became the mall ... envision[ing] a more meaningful public afterlife for our shopping centers.

Shines in its study of malls as symbols, and drivers, of American consumerism and urban sprawl …Though Ms Lange pays rapt attention to malls’ shortcomings, her book is refreshingly optimistic.

Reminds us that the mall has helped shape American society, and has evolved with our country since the 1950s ... [Lange] posits that there’s still a place for malls in our society, as long as they adapt to better serve their communities.

Fascinating cultural history.

A well-researched introduction to the rise and fall and dicey future of an American institution.

An insightful look at the design of both objects and public spaces.

One of our best design writers traces the influence of Waukegan’s Genesse Street, “Dawn of the Dead” and department stores on now-struggling suburban sprawls saddled with acres of parking.

Dives into the storied, almost nostalgic, past of the American mall and makes a case that, no, malls aren’t dying—they’re just changing with the times.

Lively, deeply researched, and ultimately optimistic.

Reading this book is like looking in the nooks, crannies, and hidden hallways of your local shopping emporium with a critical eye. It's a hark back to your childhood in the most intriguing way.

This thorough, culturally aware history will surprise and inspire audiences who may feel they already know the story of the shopping megaplex … Despite malls' sometimes problematic past, Lange envisions an inspiring, community-oriented repurposing of these monuments to consumerism.

A deeply researched history … The mall is dead—but it may yet live again, as Lange’s instructive book capably shows.

A thought-provoking cultural history ... Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.

All-around great.

Terrific research, writing, pacing, and narration. It’s also significantly more hopeful than I expected. This is the first book I bought in a bookstore while I was still listening to it so I can revisit it. It’s that good.

Absolutely Excellent Book

I’ve spent a decade fetishizing the videos of dead malls with the somber vapor wave playing in the background, entranced by the decline of mid to late twentieth century consumer culture. This book puts that decline, those videos, and the communities at the heart of our shopping ecosystem into perspective. Lange’s intensive scholarship is supplemented by case studies, trips in the field, and a host of great scholars cited throughout. This book was really fantastic. I am going to listen to it again now. Highly, highly recommend.

Note: three stars for performance, as the narrator mispronounces something at least once a chapter, typically a venue or scholar being cited.

Wrong person to write this book

The author has so many prejudices that this is more of an editorial book than history book. The author loves densely packed cities with all local stores. Shopping centers became what they are due to large companies. She would rather have a good looking vacant mall than a full generic mall. I struggled with her perspective from chapter 1. I hope someone more qualified writes a good book on this topic as shopping centers have defined a portion of the US for the last 60 years.