Quiz for Thinking Like a Historian: The Suburban Landscape of Cold War America

Question

1. The October 6, 1945, cover of The New Yorker in source 1 refers to which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. This image dates from 1945, only two months after Victory over Japan Day, before the trend toward suburbanization was truly under way. The image celebrates the end of wartime rationing, which had severely limited Americans’ consumer options, and the reconversion to a postwar economy that could produce a wide variety of consumer goods.
Incorrect. The answer is d. This image dates from 1945, only two months after Victory over Japan Day, before the trend toward suburbanization was truly under way. The image celebrates the end of wartime rationing, which had severely limited Americans’ consumer options, and the reconversion to a postwar economy that could produce a wide variety of consumer goods.

Question

2. Which element of William J. Levitt’s prescription for revolutionizing the construction of housing, described in source 2, led to the growth of the suburbs after World War II?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Most of William Levitt’s ideas for revolutionizing home construction could have applied to any type of home building. It was his idea that builders should focus on concentrated developments, rather than individual homes, that led directly to suburban growth.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Most of William Levitt’s ideas for revolutionizing home construction could have applied to any type of home building. It was his idea that builders should focus on concentrated developments, rather than individual homes, that led directly to suburban growth.

Question

3. According to Jane Jacobs, the author of source 5, which of the following advantages did large cities offer over suburbs?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Jacobs celebrated the fact that cities’ large populations could support a wide variety of consumer choices. She argued that while suburbs and cities both had large grocery stores and standard movie houses, cities also had Viennese bakers, foreign groceries, art movies, and many other diverse offerings.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Jacobs celebrated the fact that cities’ large populations could support a wide variety of consumer choices. She argued that while suburbs and cities both had large grocery stores and standard movie houses, cities also had Viennese bakers, foreign groceries, art movies, and many other diverse offerings.

Question

4. Which element of postwar American life forms the basis of William Whyte’s critique?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. William Whyte’s critique of American society in the post-World War II era focuses on the homogenization of American culture that grew alongside economic prosperity and suburbanization.
Incorrect. The answer is c. William Whyte’s critique of American society in the post-World War II era focuses on the homogenization of American culture that grew alongside economic prosperity and suburbanization.

Question

5. Sociologist Herbert Gans criticized middle-class suburbanites in America for their

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Herbert Gans’s critique of American suburban residents focused on their disengagement from national economic, social, and political forces and their tendency to “deceive themselves into thinking that the community, or rather the home, is the single most important unit of their lives.”
Incorrect. The answer is d. Herbert Gans’s critique of American suburban residents focused on their disengagement from national economic, social, and political forces and their tendency to “deceive themselves into thinking that the community, or rather the home, is the single most important unit of their lives.”