Margaret B. Barker

Maybe 4 1/2 stars. Some of it is rather dry and Barker does tend to kind of beat the same horse over and over. But as someone who lives in one of these developments, it was a fairly fascinating read and gave me a lot more information about how my subdivision was developed. I did appreciate how Barker never comes out and calls it a scam. While the overall picture of the developers (and newspapers) is not very complimentary, she goes to great pains to point out that they did nothing illegal. I'm a little surprised that the local county and township officials at the time don't get criticized more in the book for their lax building and zoning regulations. Certainly I'd like to have a conversation with Barker about her sources for the book - as they relate to my development. And maybe that's as good an indication as any of the quality of the book.
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