Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias - Hardcover

Blechman, Andrew D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871139812 ISBN 13: 9780871139818

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008

Synopsis

When his next-door neighbors in a quaint New England town suddenly pick up and move to a gated retirement community in Florida, Andrew D. Blechman is astonished by their stories. Larger than Manhattan, with a golf course for every day of the month, two downtowns, its own newspaper, radio, and TV stations, The Villages is a city of nearly one hundred thousand (and growing), missing only one thing: children. More than twelve million people will soon live in these communities, and to get to the bottom of the trend, Blechman delves into life in the senior utopia. He offers a hilarious first-hand report on all its peculiarities, from ersatz nostalgia and golf-cart mania to manufactured history and the residents’ surprisingly active sex life, and introduces us to dozens of outrageous characters. Leisureville is also a serious look at a major and underreported trend, only to get bigger as the baby boomers retire. Blechman travels to Arizona to show what has happened after decades of segregation. He investigates the government of these instant” cities, attends a builder’s conference, speaks with housing experts, and examines the implications of millions of Americans dropping out of society and closing the gates on kids.

About this title

Book Description:

"Blechman's primary interest is not in the eerily false perfection of such places, but rather in the American psychology of segregation, radical individualism and the fears underlying the dreams of their residents... [Leisureville is] part exurban expose, part postmodern Roald Dahl parable." -The Jewish Daily Forward

From the Back Cover:

"Andrew Blechman's account of the rampant unreality that has become the normal condition of life in Florida's child-free retirement ghettos is fascinating. The generation that enjoyed the greatest economic boom in the history of the world is going out with a bang--the sound of society blowing up in our faces. Blechman has a laser eye for the tragicomic absurdities of all the fun, games, and wild sex in theme-park senior villages where Oz-like control is exercised by the developer and his minions. His mordant report from a strange land is consistently interesting." --James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency

"Engaging . . . [Blechman] confronts the troubling trend toward isolation and escapism." --Publishers Weekly

"Tottering along as I am toward my golden years, I found this monograph by Andrew Blechman to be fun, informative, endlessly fascinating, and even a little frightening. The author's narrative of his rollicking tour of America's age-restricted, retirement utopias provides readers with wonderful, anecdotal accounts of the history of these communities, the life therein, and the compelling social issues that such developments raise for us all. This is a volume that should be read by everyone regardless of age."--Joe Drabyak, Chester County Book & Music Company, West Chester, PA

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0871139812
• ISBN 13: 9780871139818
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320