Are We Witnessing the Demise of Suburban America?

Benjamin Herold’s ‘Disillusioned’ Examines This Emerging Trend

In Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs, Benjamin Herold delivers a sobering, brilliantly researched, and deeply unsettling account of the realities underpinning the suburban American Dream.

Through the poignant stories of five families, Herold lays bare the historical and ongoing intersections of race, economic inequality, and public education in shaping American suburbia.

What emerges is not merely a critique of suburban life but a cautionary tale of unsustainable development, racial denial, and the unraveling of one of America’s most cherished myths.

Herold’s narrative holds great importance, not just because it examines suburbia, but because it forces us to question the very ideals that have sustained these locales for generations.

For those of us who have lived in, observed, or fled suburban neighborhoods, this book strikes a deeply personal chord. It confronts us with hard questions about livability, community, and the legacy we leave for future generations.

The Myth of Suburbia

Herold deftly exposes the myth of suburbia as a bastion of opportunity, meritocracy, and safety. From its inception, suburbia he asserts was crafted to benefit white, upwardly mobile families at the expense of everyone else.

The “white flight” from cities, subsidized by federal policies and discriminatory housing practices, created what Herold describes as a “Ponzi scheme.”

Suburban growth relied on new developments funded by government loans and infrastructure investments, with little thought given to long-term sustainability. Early residents extracted resources—better schools, higher property values, and clean streets—only to leave when cracks began to show.

Herold vividly portrays the toll of this system on families of color who moved into suburban areas later, inheriting depleted resources and crumbling infrastructures. The cycle is brutal: the promise of opportunity leads to dashed hopes, further entrenching systemic inequalities.

The stories in Disillusioned—such as a Black family in Atlanta battling an oppressive school system or undocumented parents in Compton fighting for their son’s future—illuminate the human cost of these policies.

Education as a Battleground

At the heart of Herold’s analysis lies education, which serves as both the linchpin of suburban aspirations and a reflection of its inequalities. For decades, suburban schools have symbolized opportunity—a pathway to the middle class and beyond. But as Herold demonstrates, these schools often mirror the same systemic inequities that plague American society.

Consider the story of a multiracial mother in Chicago’s North Shore suburbs, who challenges an ultra progressive school district’s failure to address structural racism. Or the plight of a middle-class Black family outside Atlanta whose son is targeted by a punitive disciplinary system.

These narratives reveal how even in ostensibly affluent and progressive suburbs, schools perpetuate the inequalities they claim to combat.

Herold’s background as an education journalist adds depth to these accounts, making it clear that public schools are not just sites of learning but arenas where broader societal conflicts—race, class, and power—play out.

His critique of the myth of educational meritocracy is particularly incisive, forcing us to question whether suburban schools truly offer equal opportunity or merely perpetuate privilege for a select few.

The Economic Time Bomb

Herold’s exploration of the economic unsustainability of suburbia is perhaps the most alarming aspect of Disillusioned. Suburbs were built on borrowed time and borrowed money.

Early residents reaped the benefits of massive subsidies and new infrastructure, leaving future generations to foot the bill for crumbling roads, decaying schools, and rising maintenance costs.

The consequences of this model are dire. Municipal revenues decline as suburbs age, even as maintenance needs soar. Families of color, who move in after white families flee to newer developments, are left to bear the financial burden.

This economic model, Herold argues, has created “disposable communities”—geographic areas discarded once they are no longer profitable or desirable for white families.

Racial Reckoning in Suburbia

One of the most provocative aspects of Disillusioned is its exploration of suburbia’s deeply racialized history. From redlining and restrictive covenants to gerrymandered school boundaries and burning crosses, the exclusion of nonwhite families was not incidental but foundational to suburban development.

This exclusion created what Herold calls a “vicious cycle” of opportunity extraction and racial denial.

Yet, as demographic shifts transform suburbs into increasingly diverse spaces, the legacy of this exclusion persists. In Gwinnett County, Georgia, for example, where the population shifted from 90% white to two-thirds nonwhite over three decades, families of color find themselves navigating systems that were never designed for them. Even in supposedly progressive suburbs, structural racism continues to limit opportunities for Black and Brown residents.

Herold’s willingness to confront his own family’s complicity in these systems adds a powerful layer of introspection. His acknowledgment of how white families like his benefited from and perpetuated these inequities forces readers to reflect on their own roles in maintaining the suburban status quo.

Lessons and Questions for the Future

Herold’s book is both a critique and a call to action. The final section, co-written with Bethany Smith, an entrepreneur who champions public education, offers a hopeful vision for renewal. But hope, Herold reminds us, requires reckoning—with history, with privilege, and with the unsustainable systems we have built.

For readers, Disillusioned raises profound questions:

• What does livability truly mean?

• Can we imagine a suburban future that prioritizes equity and sustainability over endless growth and extraction?

• How do we confront the racial and economic legacies embedded in our communities?

As someone who has spent years living in various suburbs, I found myself reflecting deeply on these questions. Herold’s account reminded me of the quiet cul-de-sacs and manicured lawns that often mask deep structural inequities. His work challenges us to look beyond the facade of suburban life and consider what lies beneath.

A Masterpiece of Journalism

In Disillusioned, Benjamin Herold has crafted a masterpiece of narrative journalism that is as urgent as it is profound. His meticulous reporting and incisive analysis make this book essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the past, present, and future of American suburbs.

More than just a critique, it is a clarion call for reckoning and renewal—a challenge to reimagine what community and opportunity might look like in an increasingly fractured world.

Herold’s work serves as a powerful reminder: the American Dream, as embodied by suburbia, is not just a promise but a responsibility. If we are to fulfill that promise, we must first confront the disillusionment at its core.

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