"Miami deserves a total urban history, and Melanie Shell-Weiss is clearly the scholar the city has been waiting for. Coming to Miami is, by far, the best book ever written on the social history of Miami, still a very poorly understood and under-researched major metropolis."--Alex Lichtenstein, Rice University

"Bringing together the stories of Jewish immigrant pioneers, African American migrants, Bahamian immigrants, Cuban refugees, Haitian immigrants, and others, Shell-Weiss has given us not only a glimpse of Miami's past, but also of America's future."--Elizabeth Clifford, Towson...

"A highly significant work that deserves the attention of urbanists, planners, sociologists of aging, and historians of post-1945 America."--Jon C. Teaford, author of The American Suburb

"A clear, concise historical perspective of the development of age-restricted, active adult communities and the developers who led the way. It provides the missing piece to the puzzle in housing studies for older adults."--Helen C. Dillon, University of Indianapolis

Youngtown, Arizona, opened in 1954 and was the first development community to have a minimum age requirement (then 65) and...

Youngtown, Arizona, opened in 1954 and was the first development community to have a minimum age requirement (then 65) and to ban underage children as permanent residents. Developer Del Webb unveiled Sun City six years later. Adjacent to Youngtown, it offered modest homes abutting a golf course. In the ensuing decades, active adult communities have proliferated, including Harold Schwartz s "The Villages" in central Florida, today the nation s single largest retirement community.

For nearly sixty years, the success of these and similar communities have changed the image of retirees...