CRACK IN THE PICTURE WINDOW, THE

Ballantine Books, Inc, Houghton Mfflin Company, 1956. Not Stated Presumed First Thus. Trade Paperback. Very Good-/No Jacket. 159 pages. Red and blue lettering on the spine, pictorial front cover. Minor creasing to the cover, with the beginnings of a tear on the upper spine edge. Previous Owner's name stamped on the first page. A very good copy of this early social critiques of suburban sprawl, by an ex-Washington DC reporter -- 'an angry, brilliantly funny but deadly serious report about the housing developments that are blighting the landscape and souls of America's suburbs. The new suburban slums, by concentrating young couples of similar background, income bracket, and outlook in rows of inadequate houses, have made a stultifying unnatural community. The frustrated residents, anchored to their tiny yards by their colossal mortgages, seek desperately for some form of self-expression. They try to amuse themselves with the wonderful gadgets of our civilization, but the easy credit is hard to pay and their debt becomes ever more burdensome. Surrounded by friendly neighbors but no true friends, they attempt anything from handicrafts to neighborhood sex to relieve their boredom.' This is a Ballantine Book, number 233, and although it states 'A Reprint' on the cover, the copyright page states only 1956.