Listen free for 30 days

Preview
  • The Geography of Nowhere

  • The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape
  • Written by: James Howard Kunstler
  • Narrated by: Al Kessel
  • Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Geography of Nowhere

Written by: James Howard Kunstler
Narrated by: Al Kessel
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $27.83

Buy Now for $27.83

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

In elegant and often hilarious prose, Kunstler depicts our nation's evolution from the Pilgrim settlements to the modern auto suburb in all its ghastliness. The Geography of Nowhere tallies up the huge economic, social, and spiritual costs that America is paying for its car-crazed lifestyle. It is also a wake-up call for citizens to reinvent the places where we live and work, to build communities that are once again worthy of our affection. Kunstler proposes that by reviving civic art and civic life, we will rediscover public virtue and a new vision of the common good. "The future will require us to build better places," Kunstler says, "or the future will belong to other people in other societies."

The Geography of Nowhere has become a touchstone work in the two decades since its initial publication, its incisive commentary giving language to the feeling of millions of Americans that our nation's suburban environments were ceasing to be credible human habitats. Since that time, the work has inspired city planners, architects, legislators, designers, and citizens everywhere.

©1993, 2016 James Howard Kunstler (P)2019 Tantor
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Geography of Nowhere

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Valuable insights and interesting arguments but..

An interesting history lesson on the mistakes made by past architects and urban planners as well as the degradation of American communities as a result of car culture. However, the author’s sometimes mysogynistic and anti-low income opinions can be really off-putting. His arguments regarding the children of single mothers and how low income individuals degrade buildings and neighbourhoods are extremely biased and based purely on conjecture, making this work very tone deaf and eye roll-inducing in places. Listen at your own risk of annoyance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Spoiled by poor reading

The reading is deeply unsympathetic to the book's content. The reader employs the same tone, and the same pattern of emphases and pauses, unvaryingly, throughout the audiobook. Particularly when the author clearly means to communicate anger, or disapproval, the reader's tone, which never varies, seems dramatically at odds with the author's message.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!