Sarah Jo Peterson is an independent scholar with over twenty years of experience in urban planning.
" Peterson reminds us that World War II had complex, far-reaching
effects on American society . . . Planning the Home Front is a
valuable addition to current scholarly literature on wartime
defense industry towns and the relations between different levels
of government, business and labor interests, and various community
groups."-- "Michigan War Studies Review"
"Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communitiesat Willow
Run by independent scholar, Sarah Jo Peterson is a lucid account of
the planning problems inherent in a World War II defense plant.
Peterson skillfully weaves a narrative from the ad hoc, disjointed
and participatory efforts which included housing for newcomers in
an underdeveloped exurban region all at once and right away."--
"Planning"
"Planning the Home Front is a highly original contribution to the
study of intergovernmental relations and many other fields besides.
This book will appeal greatly to historians of the home front,
business, urban affairs, politics, and the history of American city
planning, to name just a few. Drawing on personal recollections,
federal government documents, state government documents, city
council minutes, and a vast array of newspaper accounts, Sarah Jo
Peterson's research is quite impressive."--Roger W. Lotchin "author
of Fortress California, 1910-1961"
"Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communities at
Willow Run is a step-by-step account of local issues (particularly
housing and transportation, but intermixed with racism, sexism, and
classism) that challenged the residents and migrants--both managers
and laborers--of Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Extensive notes
detail the numerous primary sources that support Peterson's
argument along with her visits to eight different archives to
locate documents that had probably remained untouched since the
1940s. . . . Peterson knows the material, and she explains it well,
utilizing reams of official records and documents as well as
various oral histories."-- "American Historical Review"
"In the tradition of the best historical and sociological work in
urban studies, Planning the Home Front shows that cities rise not
simply because of spatial succession or in response to forces of
supply and demand. Sarah Jo Peterson meticulously reconstructs the
messy negotiations between competing interests that actually build
urban places. The result is a remarkably compelling narrative that
will be of great interest to both historians and planners."--David
M. P. Freund "author of Colored Property: State Policy and White
Racial Politics in Suburban America"
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