In The Unreal America, the distinguished American architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable examines the growing American fascination with invented and synthetic environments. She discusses theme parks, shopping malls, historic restorations, heritage marketplaces, planned communities and developer-built houses, arguing that these environments increasingly substitute carefully manufactured images and experiences for authentic architectural and urban life. Huxtable places this phenomenon within the broader history of American architecture and considers its consequences for architectural quality, cultural memory and the relationship between buildings and their surroundings. The book is both an incisive architectural critique and a broader examination of American attitudes towards place, history and consumer culture. (AI-gegenereerde inhoudsbeschrijving)