Randall's account of Park Forest effectively challenges the conventional
distinction between 1930s idealism and the postwar materialism that
shapes so many accounts of post-1945 America. --
Robert Fishman, Journal
of American History
Gregory C. Randall makes a valuable
contribution with his book, the first full-length history of the [Park
Forest] community... [it] will be a boon to scholars interested in
exploring some of the many interesting questions surrounding Park Forest
and the postwar suburban phenomenon. --
Robert W. Blythe, Vernacular
Architecture Newsletter
Greg Randall has written an engaging and
instructive book. What I especially like about Randall's work is that it
provides the reader with a holistic appreciation of a distinctive
community. That he does so as an insider makes his narration all the
more compelling. --
Michael H. Ebner, author of Creating Chicago's North
Shore, a Suburban History
Now in a new edition, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois
chronicles the history of the planning, design, building, and expansion
of Park Forest, a.k.a. "GI Town", a community created partly in response
to America's peacetime housing shortage. America's Original GI Town
reveals the inception of what would become Park Forest, how the site of
the future town was acquired, how the planners of Park Forest drew upon
English garden cities and New Deal greenbelt towns in order to plan a
solid community, and how their interpretation affected American
community development up to the modern day. A handful of vintage
black-and-white photographs and diagrams illustrate this thoughtful and
worthy contribution to American history shelves.
Midwest Book Review
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