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The Roundtable

Benjamin Herold's “Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs”

By Joe Donahue

Published July 29, 2024 at 11:47 AM EDT

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In the new book “Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs,” journalist Benjamin Herold explores how hope, history, and racial denial collide in the suburbs and their schools.

“Disillusioned” braids these human stories together with local and national history to reveal a vicious cycle undermining the dreams upon which America suburbia was built. For generations upwardly mobile white families has extracted opportunity from the nations heavily subsidized suburbs. Then moved on when the bills for maintenance and repair came due.

Encore airing, originally ran in March 2024.

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The Roundtable Benjamin Herold journalist education economy suburbs Suburbia

Joe Donahue

Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.

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