The 1950s are often thought of as a golden age of community, a vanished world visible only through the haze of the rebellion of the 60's and the nostalgia of the 80's. In this provocative reexamination of life in America forty years ago, Alan Ehrenhalt reveals how an earlier generation fostered a sense of community by accepting limits in their lives and by deferring to authority figures to enforce these limits. Focusing on three very different neighborhoods in Chicago- 'The City That Works'- Ehrenhalt leads us on a journey through time that serves to clarify the decisions we must face and the price we must pay if we are to restore the feeling of community that so many feel is missing in America today.