FEATURED REVIEW

“An astonishingly important work.”
Alex Kotlowitz, The Atlantic, 1/24/24

LISTS

News

REVIEWS

“Reminiscent of Common Ground, J Anthony Lukas’ groundbreaking tale of the Boston busing crisis of the 1970s...Individual stories are woven together with demographic & historical research to build a compelling portrait of just what is going wrong…Disillusioned also benefits from an unusual epilogue that helps it rise above a standard journalistic tale.”
Financial Times Review, 2/1/24

“Richly reported... Finally, here’s someone to take us to the places that early on served as an escape valve, mostly for white families fleeing the changing demographics of urban America, the places where many Americans imagined a kind of social and economic utopia.”
The Atlantic Review, 1/24/24

“An important, clear-eyed account of suburban boom and bust...Each suburb’s history is engrossing, and Herold delivers an up-close, intimate account of life there that resounds with broader meaning.”
The New York Times Book Review, 1/22/24

“This intrepid inquiry into the unfulfilled promise of America’s suburbs posits that a ‘deep-seated history of white control, racial exclusion, and systematic forgetting’ has poisoned the great postwar residential experiment.”
New Yorker Review, 1/22/24

  • “A blistering indictment... Nuanced & moving...Herold reminds us that places don't start out in disrepair.” Minneapolis Star Tribune Review, 1/17/24

  • “A deeply valuable study of the decline of suburbia.” Kirkus Review (Starred), 11/14/23

  • “Eye-opening… An illuminating account of a poorly understood crisis.” Publishers Weekly Review, 10/19/23

  • “Thoughtful, informative, and very disturbing . . . deserves a wide audience.” Booklist

IN THE MEDIA

5 Questions with author Benjamin Herold
The Learning Agency, 1/31/24

A Black Family’s Search for a Quality Education
Outside Atlanta Clashes with Reality (excerpt)
The Hechinger Report, 1/29/24

Books Briefing: The Human Face of American Decline
The Atlantic, 1/26/24

Suburban Schools Reborn: Compton, Calif.
Is Charting a Hopeful Path (excerpt)
Education Week, 1/24/24

Philly Writer’s New Book Explores Changes in America’s Suburbs
Philly Voice, 1/24/24

The Unraveling of America’s Suburbs
WHYY Studio 2 interview, 1/23/24

Evanston, D65 Examined in New Book
Evanston Now, 1/23/24

‘Disillusioned’ Examines How Penn Hills, Other Suburbs Undercut Black Families’ Dreams
 WESA, 1/23/24

In New Book, Diverse Families Find Broken Schools, Broken Dreams in the ‘Burbs
Author Q&A with The 74, 1/22/24

Scrutinizing Suburbia, and Myself
Author essay for The Grade, 1/22/24

Racism in Philly Suburban Schools
Op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/22/24

PODCAST APPEARANCES

Education Talk Radio
A New Book on Education in America’s Suburbs,
 Guest Appearance 1/31/24

The Impact Code
Insights from ‘Disillusioned,’ Guest Appearance 1/26/24

The Daily Beast
The New Abnormal, Guest Appearance, 1/23/24

The Realignment Podcast
Are America’s Suburbs Unraveling, Guest Appearance, 1/23/24

EWA Radio
The Rise and Fall of the American Suburban Dream,
Guest Appearance, 1/23/24

The Chris Voss Show
Disillusioned, Guest Appearance, 1/23/24

Keen On With Andrew Keen
Suburbia & American Disillusionment, Guest Appearance, 1/25/24