This novel follows several members of an American family, the Berglunds, as well as their close friends and lovers, as complex and troubled relationships unfold over many years. The book follows them through the last decades of the twentieth century and concludes near the beginning of the Obama administration. The Berglunds are the middle class suburban family that the neighbors just love to talk about. Walter, the successful and doting husband, and...

Surrealist filmmaker Gary Burns (Waydowntown, A problem with fear) joins journalist Jim Brown on an outing to the burbs. Amidst the fresh foundations of monster homes, the two explore the dark side of suburbia and create a provocative reflection on why we live the way we do. Playing off sitcoms and reality TV, Burns and Brown turn the documentary genre inside out, crafting a vivid account of life in The late suburban age.

As middle-agged, middle-class, middle-of-the-country mom Frankie Heck tackles the mundane chaos of everyday life her kids manufacture drama, and her husband offers his support while sitting on the living room couch.

"With a radical take on narrative, disturbing yet beautiful cinematography, and a highly sophisticated use of on- and offscreen sound, Martel turns her tale of a decaying bourgeois family, whiling away the hours of one sweaty, sticky summer, into a cinematic marvel. This visceral take on class, nature, sexuality, and the ways political turmoil and social stagnation can manifest in human relationships is a drama of amazing tactility and one of the...

In turn-of-the-century New York, stockbroker Clarence Day, Sr. runs the family household in the same manner as he does his business. He's demanding and strong-willed, insisting that every detail measure up to his satisfaction. But he' a good provider and devoted husband to his patient wife Vinnie, who tolerates her spouse2s tirades while lovingly looking after their four (red-headed) sons. After insisting that no relatives be allowed to visit, Clarence...

"From the National Book Award winner, a masterful history of the decade that exploded America's postwar order. On July 4, 1961, the rising middle-class families of a Chicago neighborhood gathered before their flag-bedecked houses, a vision of the American Dream. That vision was shattered over the following decade, its inequities at home and arrogance abroad challenged by powerful civil rights and antiwar movements. Assassinations, rioting, and the...