The New Suburbanites

<p> One of the surprising demographic trends of the 1970s was the rapid increase in the black population living in suburbs . . . Robert Lake's study of New Jersey trends leads him to conclude that this change produces not integration but rather the differentiation of suburbs along racial lines . . . This is an informative study of demographic change and real estate practices . . . Thanks to this investigation, we know more about the suburbanization of blacks, especially the movement of blacks to areas undergoing racial transition. <p> --Reynolds Farley, Growth and Change <p> The recent nature of black suburbanization in the United States has attracted substantial research attention. It seems to be one of the hot topics in the study of metropolitan population distribution . . . This study provides overwhelming evidence that blacks in suburbs are segregated residentially, even within so-called mixed communities. <p> --Avery M. Guest, Journal of Regional Science <p> Every so often there appears a scholarly work that integrates a field of knowledge and immediately becomes an indispensable tool for research on the subject. The New Suburbanites is clearly such an achievement, and students of urban social geography and contemporary American suburbs are greatly indebted to Robert W. Lake, who has established himself as one of the foremost authorities on black suburbanization in the United States . . . It is not only a splendid and eminently readable introduction to the subject but also a state-of-the-art survey of current knowledge. Lake's book is a scrupulously fair and logical treatment of a frequently emotional subject, a major contribution to the social science literature, and a model of excellence in geographical research. <p> --Peter O. Muller, Geographical Reviews