SUBURBAN BIOGRAPHY AS URBAN HISTORY

Carol O'Connor's book, originally a Yale dissertation, offers the perspective of a native daughter. "She began researching the suburb," we learn from the back cover, "as a joint proposition to better understand herself and her neighbors...." Her underlying proposition: Scarsdale is contentedly uppermiddle class. A Sort of Utopia-a title borrowed from an admiring description, circa 1964-is forthrightly subjective; the themes pursued by the author-demography, politics, and class-are ones which fascinate her. To her distinct credit, moreover, O'Connor allows that she recognized Scardale's contentment only after placing the hometown folks under the lens of social analysis. Tellingly, readers are informed in the preface: