Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-First Century, and Why We Live in Houses Anyway - Hardcover

"Terrific...Steeped in historical knowledge." - "USA Today"

"Entertaining and frequently enlightening."- Penelope Green, "The New York Times Book Review"

"Maybe you like the way America is being built, maybe you don't, but either way you will not find a more absorbing or patient look at the "real" real estate process than this elegant time-lapse portrait of a neighborhood-to-be. Witold Rybczynski is the poet laureate of what you haven't noticed that's probably right in front of you." -- Robert Sullivan, author of "Cross Country: Fifteen Years and 90,000 Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America"

"Nowhere do pretty hypotheses get blast-tested by the facts as in the work of Witold Rybczynski. He is not the kind of scholar who looks at perfectly functional realities and asks whether they can possibly work in theory. Instead, in "Last Harvest" Rybczynski is our engaging and authentic guide, immersing us in a fascinating narrative of how real people live, work, play -- and build. "Last Harvest" is "The Soul of a New Machine" for the new urbanism." -- Joel Garreau, author of "Edge City: Life on the New Frontier"

"The master has done it again. His best book ever. It is a must-read for anyone interested in urban development. This seemingly simple example sheds light on suburban development and, in the process, why affordable housing is disappearing." -- Dr. Peter Linneman, Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance and Business Public Policy, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

"Compelling...wonderfully readable..."Last Harvest" explains why America looks the way it does." - "The Wall Street Journal"

"Compelling...wonderfully readable...Last Harvest explains why America looks the way it does." - The Wall Street Journal

"Terrific...Steeped in historical knowledge." - USA Today

"A rich history of U.S. development, from the Founding Fathers to the dreamers who conceived the first automobile suburbs in the early part of the last century and on to today's foot soldiers in the movement called New Urbanism." - BusinessessWeek

"Understanding the business of real estate requires an appreciation of its many aesthetic, economic, historical, physical, political, psychological, structural, and countless other aspects, and Last Harvest is a primer on them all." - Henry Petroski, author of Successess through Failure: The Paradox of Design

Witold Rybczynski teaches at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.