"At base, the arguments set out in this collection challenge a considerable amount of the collective wisdom about North American suburbs and will stimulate scholars and students to rethink what suburbs consist of and what the relationships are between cities and suburbs.... This work strikes at the heart of scholars' thinking about what suburbia looks like and was/is and who or what lived/lives there."—Mary Corbin Sies, University of Maryland
"In Manufacturing Suburbs, edited by Robert Lewis, eleven authors have done a pioneering and impressive job of sorting out some of the many complexities of industrial suburbanization in the United States and Canada during the century from 1850 to 1950.... All in all, Manufacturing Suburbs is an excellent study that should lead the way to further research into a hitherto neglected aspect of suburban history."—The Journal of American History
"The foremost merit of the book lies in the quality of the different contributions, written by major researchers in the field of urban history. Together, they provide a comprehensive view of the pre-World War II evolution of manufacturing in North American metropolitan regions and of its impact on their urban structure."—Urban Studies