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THE CRACK IN THE PICTURE WINDOW by John Keats

THE CRACK IN THE PICTURE WINDOW

By

Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

A corrosive commentary on our postwar ""fresh air slums""- the housing developments- views dimly not only the physical inadequacies but the psychological disadvantages of life in the low cost community where people lose their identity in homes which look identical. With no down payment as the bait for the home you will never really own, kited land values, cheap construction, poor design all are part of the carrying charges. So is development dwelling where neighboring is a necessity rather than a choice; where you buy on time and live in constant hock; where you depend on the picture inside- on the television set; and where from the supermarket in the morning to the barbecue block party in the evening there is an appalling congestion and confinement.... A rebuke on American life today, perhaps not quite as sophisticated a slap in the face as The Exurbanites but just as justified.