Review by Choice Review
It is easy to dismiss this as a narrow, specialized study without broad relevance, until the subject of affordable housing enters the picture. Geographers Hart (Univ. of Minnesota), Rhodes (Univ. of Montana-Western), and Morgan (Emory and Henry College) leave traveling trailers behind by page 11, as the overwhelming WW II demand for housing turned trailer homes--the precursors of the permanent, on-site manufactured housing units that constitute a significant portion of today's housing stock--into semipermanent housing units. This clear, to-the-point study directs attention to the proliferation of this type of housing and the social stigma attached to it and its occupants, as well as the concentration of these units in several areas across the nation, where they can be found standing either as isolated units or grouped together in parks. Housing reflects social and economic reality. If it is mobile today, it is a "recreational vehicle." Manufactured housing (mobile homes in the past) sit in one place permanently, and run the gauntlet from bottom of the line to the upscale second homes common in Sunbelt retiree communities. This is a thought-provoking, readable examination of modern US life, far broader in scope than one might first imagine. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels/collections. M. J. Butler emeritus, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review