Stephen Amidon, The New City

Martin Kich (Wright State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2000

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Drawn from the history of the “planned community” of Columbia, Maryland, and from Amidon's own experiences as an adolescent living there,

The New City

concerns the determination of the founders of the fictional community of Newton to create a new kind of utopian community, one scientifically designed to minimize the friction caused by racial and socio-economic differences. Ironically, the village is the ostensible blueprint for this “model” suburban community, even though the shared history that makes most villages into cohesive communities is entirely lacking in this planned community.

The two men at the center of the effort to create Newton – Austin Swope, a prominent White activist lawyer, and Earl Wooten, a successful Black developer – are close friends. Although the

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921 words

Citation: Kich, Martin. "The New City". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23574, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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