About the Author

Sarah Jo Peterson is an independent scholar with over twenty years of experience in urban planning.

Reviews

" Peterson reminds us that World War II had complex, far-reaching effects on American society . . . Planning the Home Front is a valuable addition to current scholarly literature on wartime defense industry towns and the relations between different levels of government, business and labor interests, and various community groups."-- "Michigan War Studies Review"

"Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communitiesat Willow Run by independent scholar, Sarah Jo Peterson is a lucid account of the planning problems inherent in a World War II defense plant. Peterson skillfully weaves a narrative from the ad hoc, disjointed and participatory efforts which included housing for newcomers in an underdeveloped exurban region all at once and right away."-- "Planning"

"Planning the Home Front is a highly original contribution to the study of intergovernmental relations and many other fields besides. This book will appeal greatly to historians of the home front, business, urban affairs, politics, and the history of American city planning, to name just a few. Drawing on personal recollections, federal government documents, state government documents, city council minutes, and a vast array of newspaper accounts, Sarah Jo Peterson's research is quite impressive."--Roger W. Lotchin "author of Fortress California, 1910-1961"

"Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communities at Willow Run is a step-by-step account of local issues (particularly housing and transportation, but intermixed with racism, sexism, and classism) that challenged the residents and migrants--both managers and laborers--of Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Extensive notes detail the numerous primary sources that support Peterson's argument along with her visits to eight different archives to locate documents that had probably remained untouched since the 1940s. . . . Peterson knows the material, and she explains it well, utilizing reams of official records and documents as well as various oral histories."-- "American Historical Review"

"In the tradition of the best historical and sociological work in urban studies, Planning the Home Front shows that cities rise not simply because of spatial succession or in response to forces of supply and demand. Sarah Jo Peterson meticulously reconstructs the messy negotiations between competing interests that actually build urban places. The result is a remarkably compelling narrative that will be of great interest to both historians and planners."--David M. P. Freund "author of Colored Property: State Policy and White Racial Politics in Suburban America"