Rating: 
Summary: disappointing sequel
Review: I was enthralled by Kunstler's first book, _The Geography of Nowhere_, but extremely disappointed by _Home from Nowhere_. His strength in _The Geography of Nowhere_ was in pointing out the fatal flaws in post-war urban planning - that he is at once disgusted, cynical and passionate about city design made it a compelling read. But _Home from Nowhere_ falls flat as often happens when someone who is very good at finding problems decides to find solutions. Kunstler's proposals are often not helpful, and many (esp. in the area of property tax reform) have already been tried unsuccessfully in a few cities. Kunstler seems to have become a devotee of Andres Duany - but Duany's _Suburban Nation_ is a much more worthwhile read for those interested in eliminating suburban sprawl and poor urban planning.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing sequel
Review: I was enthralled by Kunstler's first book, _The Geography of Nowhere_, but extremely disappointed by _Home from Nowhere_. His strength in _The Geography of Nowhere_ was in pointing out the fatal flaws in post-war urban planning - that he is at once disgusted, cynical and passionate about city design made it a compelling read. But _Home from Nowhere_ falls flat as often happens when someone who is very good at finding problems decides to find solutions. Kunstler's proposals are often not helpful, and many (esp. in the area of property tax reform) have already been tried unsuccessfully in a few cities. Kunstler seems to have become a devotee of Andres Duany - but Duany's _Suburban Nation_ is a much more worthwhile read for those interested in eliminating suburban sprawl and poor urban planning.
Rating: 
Summary: Everyone should read this book
Review: I was required to read this book for my Urban Studies course, but although I had to read it, I found myself liking it. Kunstler manages to articulate many things about suburbia that had been bothering me, but which I could not put into words. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I now realize that there is a better way to live than the way most of us have been living. He is a candid, clear, and persuasive writer and I look forward to reading more of his books in the future.
Rating:
Summary: An Urban Champion
Review: James Kunstler has written what should be considered the 'new urbanism' manifesto. In 'Home From Nowhere', Kunstler tackles the many problems in urban America and offers some real world solutions and ideas. From the car-free urban core, to progressive zoning and urban taxation, he paves the road on how to strengthen and remodel our vital urban cores. I would highly recommend this book to any future or current urban city council members, or future or present state politicians. This is a great vision of what our urban areas could become, and Kunstler paints the picture in broad and realistic strokes. Five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Kunstler: One of the best urban writers of the 20th century.
Review: Jim Kunstler's books are the best popular expression of the architecture and planning movement known as the New Urbanism. One hundred years from now, we will look back on Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford and James Howard Kunstler as the best writers on the subject of American urbanism.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a complete solution, but is headed in a good direction.
Review: Kunstler does not have all the answers, and New Urbanism does have its problems, but it is at least a fresh approach to altering our urban fabric. And anyone who thinks that professional urban planners have all the answers needs only to read Jane Jacobs' classic, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
Rating:
Summary: Solid ideas to rampant problems of surburban sprawl
Review: Kunstler provides solid ideas on how the civic text in most cities erodes our living spaces by unending expansion and suburban hell. He examines architecture, civic planning, and urban design to say not only what's wrong but what could be done differently. For example, rather than have strip malls and gated communities, Kunstler recommends mixed-income neighborhoods where all necessary amenities, such as jobs, shopping, and services, can be gained within walking distance of one's dwelling. His model is Victorian America where civic design was often based on community. Today, Kunstler says, this model is illegal thanks to zoning codes mandating all activities be separate and accessible only by car.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best-written books I've read.
Review: Kunstler takes a potentially dry subject and writes with such passion that I had a hard time putting the book down. I can start reading on any page and get engrossed. Kunstler is extremely opinionated, but he writes so well that I'm willing to go along for the ride. As we pave more of the planet, there are few subjects more important, and Kunstler bring the debate alive. As the saying goes, "if you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention." He's been paying attention.
Rating:
Summary: Toward Better City and Town Building
Review: Somewhere between Celebration, Florida and the current state of many American cities is the often elusive ideal for how towns and cities should be designed. The former, as some critics have pointed out, might seem a tad artifial and too hampered by covenenants and restrictions. The latter, Kunstler eloquently contends, have become even more void of vitality in their dependence on the automobile, distorted scale, and lack of effective public spaces.What Mr. Kunstler provides in both the Geography of Nowhere and Home From Nowhere is a comprehensive understanding of what we have done wrong in modern towns and cities, what's to blame for these problems, and what can be done to make our cities, streets, and neighborhoods more livable again. I have found the book to be an effective recipe in making necessary changes to our local zoning and subdivision codes and, thereby, provide a framework for recreating a neo-traditional environment. I would suggest complementing a reading of this book with Kunstler's earlier work as well as Christopher Alexander's more technical "A Pattern Language". And to see how some might argue that these precepts are taken to excess, it would be useful to also read Celebration, USA by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins.
Rating:
Summary: Remodeling Hell
Review: The author of this book is a novelist by trade, with eight completed works already under his belt. However, having had no formal architectural training, his understanding of the subject in general, and what we have done to the physical fabric of our country in specific, is profound, enlightening and deeply important. For despite what we might imagine, "buildings foster certain kinds of behavior in humans." And our rush to pave over the nation with strip malls, urban sprawl, industrial parks, and seven-lane freeways ("anti-places") all tend to suppress and distort our better natures. Reading this book is both humorous and disheartening at the one and same time. It is humorous and easy to read, because the author's writing style is mature, articulate, and witty - clearly one of the quirks of his being a novelist. Disheartening, because it plainly documents how American cities have devolved into bleak, relentless, noisy, squalid, smoky, smelly, explosively expanding, socially unstable, dehumanizing sinkholes of industrial foulness congested with ragtag hordes of racing automobiles. In response to the tragedy of our cities, we seek escape. After the war, most Americans jumped into the wagon and fled for the suburbs. However, even there we find no guarantee of spiritual or physical ease. Cut off from grocery stores, city-centers, cafes, and work, we end up spending half our life (not to mention half our income) "sitting inside a tin can on the freeway." We have become "a drive-in civilization," scuttling between non-descript office malls, "schools that look fertilizer factories," warehouse-like grocery stores, paved-over mega malls, and the congested cities we left behind in the first place - all because none of these places are within walking or biking distance after having fled to the suburbs. In fact, life in the suburbs is so unsatisfactory that we seek alternate escape routes, having no other place to flee. The majority of our free time is spent glued in front of the TV screen or at the theatre, where we catch glimpses of a better world. When we are not in either of those places, we "escape to nature" via a weekend camping trip (because nature knows how to design esthetically-pleasing places) or head to Disneyland. Ah, Disneyland.... "The public realm in America became so atrocious in the postwar decades that the Disney Corporation was able to create an artificial substitute for it and successfully sell it as a commodity." Americans love Disney world, as the author points out, because it is only social terrain left that has not been colonized by the car. Although we may not realize it on a conscious level, "The design quality of Disney World ... is about 1.5 notches better than the average American suburban shopping mall or housing subdivision - so Americans love it." Yet this fantasy land is "ultimately less satisfying than reality, and only deepens our hunger for the authentic." In essence, the book is one long screed against shoddy civic design, car-centered development, single-use zoning laws (a subject that enrages the author to the point of profanity), and loss of excellence and beauty in architectural design. In place of these, the author wishes to reinvigorate community connectivity, enliven the public sphere, enthrone commonsense zoning laws, and start designing beautiful, lasting structures - just like we used to. As the author reminds us, "In such a setting, we feel more completely human. This is not trival." The alternative? Continuing on the "garbage barge steaming off to Nowhere."
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