This book was incredible: helpful, cohesive, and stunningly written. However, the most attractive part of the collection has to be the photography. Each photo not only captures the spirit of the image shot, but captures the imagination as well. Mayer does a fabulous job of grasping the essence of Trulove's verbal images in his work. This book is a must-have, not only for the coffee table anthology, but as a feast for the eyes.

The New City examines the tenet that people's behaviour and attitudes can be radically altered by the environment in which they live. Newton has been designed to foster harmony between races and discourage crime but this environment cannot overcome the deep-rooted prejudices and suspicion, which once aroused, set the main characters and on a roller-coaster to disaster, and lead the city to the brink of anarchy. The strength of the novel lies in the steady and inevitable build up to the disintegration of the lives of the main characters, brought about by a combination of events and their own distorted perceptions.

The New City is a bleak forecast that the worst of what is primitive in human nature can overcome a civilizing environment. Some of the characters do have better impulses but are not strong enough to overcome them. The book seems to suggest that they never would be but a more optimistic judgement would be that maybe human nature is not yet ready for the New City.

I recommend this book as a thoughtful and, as the story progresses, a compelling read.

The New City is a fascinating story of the ironies inherent in a planned community, one that is supposed to be free of the troubles typical of suburbia in the 1970s. It is a thoughtful story, with well-drawn characters and a suspenseful plot, touching on the subleties of racism, the Vietnam War, and so-called "tolerant" people. I found myself reading faster and faster trying to get to the end. I would highly recommend this book.

I throughly enjoyed reading this book. I'm one of those people who likes the 70's (and lived through most of it) so I enjoyed the pop culture references, which weren't essential, but helped to give the novel a little bit of atmosphere. The plot itself is intricate, and I was taken off guard by everything that happened. I liked the characters, even though most of them were really flawed. (I think I liked Teddy the most, even though he's extremely nerdy and a bratty little rich boy, he's very funny and charming in a weird way.) I loved reading about all the aspects of planning the city and the founders' idea of an utopian community, where racism or class distinctions don't exist. Very fascinating story with a killer ending. Even though it's been over a year since I read the book, I still wonder about the characters, and what they would be doing now, etc. I heartily recommend it to everyone.

Amidon's collection of linked stories exposes the madness at the heart of American suburbia -- self-destructive teenagers, ambition run amock, the paralysis and quiet desperation that lie just under the smooth surfaces of life in a single subdivision. This is familiar territory in American literature, but Amidon handles it with grace and a strong sense of the compelling image. And, in the end, he gives us reason to hope for his characters in their stultifying world.

The so called plot here revolves around shady business deals in the desert perpetrated by an ex-alcoholic who dies suddenly leaving his estranged out-of-work actor son to fly in from England and unravel the mystery from only a curious list of names found in a briefcase. The novel then proceeds to fail its own hackneyed plot device, botching its attempt at conventional detective intrigue. The sense about half way through that the author has no clue where he's going is confirmed by the ludicrous events of the clumsily appended finale. Fortunately for Amidon, the book redeems itself with a precisely evoked desert atmosphere, a sensitive portrayal of human relationships fractured by alcohol abuse and some memorably surreal set pieces, including one involving a drunken widow and a killer cactus! Worth a look for its style if you can bear the absence of direction.