Looks at how teenagers in one small town use spaces and give value and meaning to specific places. Landscapes of Betrayal, Landscapes of Joy provides a rare glimpse into the world of teenagers, from beach parties to bedrooms, from the math class to the midnight movies. In this fascinating ethnography, Herb Childress demonstrates how our buildings and landscapes (and the institutions that shape them) systematically shortchange our kids, eliminating opportunities for challenge and growth and encouraging their passivity. After examining the places to which the kids were devoted, where they worked hardest, and where they were at their best, Childress offers ideas for change. "Childress weaves engaging stories through and around the teenagers whose everyday lives are represented by this book. The power of his narrative resides in part on his ability to raise profound issues from seemingly mundane occurrences. He avoids over-theorizing the teenagers" experiences and yet, at the same time, he is able to highlight their senses of self and place in the world. And the awful context that surfaces from his stories is that these teenagers are, for the most part, betrayed by our adult world (how it is planned, designed, and institutionalized) and the society (family, home, and community) we embrace." -- Stuart C. Aitken, author of Family Fantasies and Community Space "Our social and physical environments are a mess. Teenagers are sorely neglected, and Childress conveys the feeling that there is much that could so easily be done if we weren"t so "bloody fearful" about life. Educators, planners, designers, and parents should all read this book." -- Douglas D. Paterson, University of British Columbia "Childress is a good storyteller; the dialogue and the vignettes are compelling and evocative." -- Lynn Paxson, Iowa State University