Last Harvest: From Cornfield to New Town: Real Estate Development from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-First Century, and Why We Live in Houses Anyway

I enjoy books that are well written can teach and tell a story. The Last Harvest does this well - and is, while not a spellbinding page turner, well written and enjoyable to read. The book takes you through developing a small planned development in Chester County, PA - and introduces the risks, rewards, and often overwhelming processes associated with developing residential property. As a former city planning commissioner in a small Washington State city at the same time period that the book covers, I found the perspective from the developer's side very interesting, and the book often resonated with my own experiences. A good read for the prospective land baron or developer - or anyone interested in land use. You will get some flavor and appreciation of the inherent risks and rewards—a good read.

I've always had an interest in regional and urban planning if only to understand why the town I grew up in, coincidentally a suburb of Philadelphia much like this story was developed so terribly. The author is clearly well-read on the topic and has done his research but is pretentious in every way possible. He mentions his beloved Chestnut Hill about 5 times every chapter as if there is nowhere else worthy of comparison to get his point of across. To be fair, he mentions Celebration and Seaside,FL (but who doesn't mention those towns when discussing planning and development in the 20th century). He tries to paint town planners and councils as the enemy or at least groups who get in the way of his main characters, also pretentious in their developer ways. All annoyances aside, The Last Harvest achieves it's goal of describing how a modern-day subdivision is built from the modern-day landowner to the people who move in. Please take a moment however to think for yourselves and make your own opinions about sprawl and zoning rules and not let Mr. Witold do it for you.

ive only read 6 chapters. it is a book that a professor required us to read. it reads like a novel, even though it is full of information regarding (sub)urban planning. easy read for technical info. looking forward to other chapters.

I have been in New Home Sales for over 15 years. Fantastic to learn about New urbanism, and the urban spraw.

All about real estate development! Great gift!!

This is about the development of a small residential development in the countryside of Pennsylvania, using the "traditional neighborhood development" approach--sort of like 1880-1920 urban developments. Walking neighborhoods, small lots, hidden garages, large front porches,local commercial. Common is fake Victorian style house.A developer took over the project in a Southeaster Pennsylvania area after local government officials refused two proposals from an orginal developer. Apparently, this was in the early 2000s, although the author is not clear about the exact time. There were a couple of major problems with the the project: difficulties with local government officials and mistakes in locating model homes. The volume also includes some interesting history of urban and suburban development in the USA. The book ends in 2006, just as the market starting going south. I sure wish I could know how it worked out, given the bad real estate markets in 2007-2009.

Fascinating book. I found this to be a perfect supplemental read to my real estate development class.

Wonderful book for future real estate developments. Shows the journey of a new single family housing developer which giving the history of residential development in the United States.