The unknown world of the mobile home

Author(s)

• Hart, John Fraser
• Rhodes, Michelle J.
• Morgan, John (John T.)

Bibliographic Information

The unknown world of the mobile home

John Fraser Hart, Michelle J. Rhodes and John T. Morgan ; with the cartographic collaboration of Mark B. Lindberg

（Creating the North American landscape）

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002

Note

Bibliography: p. 135-138

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In American popular imagination, the mobile home evokes images of cramped interiors, cheap materials, and occupants too poor or unsavory to live anywhere else. Since the 1940s and '50s, however, mobile home manufacturers have improved standards of construction and now present them as an affordable alternative to conventional site-built homes. Today one of every fourteen Americans lives in a mobile home. In The Unknown World of the Mobile Home authors John Fraser Hart, Michelle J. Rhodes, and John T. Morgan illuminate the history and culture of these often misunderstood domiciles. They describe early mobile homes, which were trailers designed to be pulled behind automobiles and which were more often than not poorly constructed and unequal to the needs of those who used them. During the 1970s, however, Congress enacted federal standards for the quality and safety of mobile homes, which led to innovation in design and the production of much more attractive and durable models. These models now comply with local building codes and many are designed to look like conventional houses. As a result, one out every five new single-family housing units purchased in the United States is a mobile home, sited everywhere from the conventional trailer park to custom-designed "estates" aimed at young couples and retirees. Despite all these changes in manufacture and design, even the most immobile mobile homes are still sold, financed, regulated, and taxed as vehicles. With a wealth of detail and illustrations, The Unknown World of the Mobile Home provides readers with an in-depth look into this variation on the American dream.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Part I: Background Prologue Chapter 1. Trailers Chapter 2. Trailer Parks Chapter 3. The War Years Chapter 4. Mobile Homes Chapter 5. The HUD Code Chapter 6. New Models Chapter 7. Sitting Mobile Homes Part II: Single-Siteds Chapter 8. Where Are They? Chapter 9. The Lexington Hexagon Chapter 10. Northern New Mexico Chapter 11. Mercer County, North Dakota Chapter 12. Upstate New York Chapter 13. Adams County, Wisconsin Chapter 14. Spersopolis Chapter 15. The Coal Field Part III: Side by Side Chapter 16. The Mountain West Chapter 17. Filling in the Flathead Chapter 18. A Snapshot of Evergreen Chapter 19. Boom and Bust in Western Montana Chapter 20. The Changing "Small"-Town West Part IV: Parks Chapter 21. Mobile Home Parks, Utilitarian to Upscale Chapter 22. The Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Chapter 23. Southwestern Kansas Chapter 24. Long Neck Chapter 25. Florida Chapter 26. Southern California Part V: Conclusion & Epilogue Conclusion Epilogue Bibliography Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA71555359
• ISBN:
  • 0801868998
• LCCN: 2001004067
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Baltimore
• Pages/Volumes: viii, 142 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : HD7289.62.U6
  • DC21 : 307.3/36
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Mobile homes -- United States
  • LCSH : Mobile home living -- United States
  • LCSH : Mobile home industry -- United States
  • LCSH : Mobile home parks -- United States
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA07302089