Nathaniel Robert Walker - Victorian Visions of Suburban Utopia: Abandoning Babylon

This book has been more than a decade in the making, and my dear wife and best friend, Sally Caithness, has been there every step of the way, sharing innumerable insights and asking provocative questions at every turn. The journey was possible, and most pleasant, thanks to her and the love we share. Both this book and its author would be much weaker without her. Our children, Lilian and Eliot, have been very patient with me, and their beautiful companionship has provided endless amounts of laughter and joy. I hope that this book will, one day, encourage them to dream after their own Jerusalems. My Mother and Father have shown unfailing love and support, and there are countless ways in which it is true to say that this project never would have happened without them. My parents-in-law, Fred and Vanessa Caithness, have also been extremely kind and supportive, and I am very grateful to them.

The list of people who helped me build the scholarly framework and ask the questions that led to this book is long. I will forever be indebted to Douglas Bisson, Rose Gatens, and Daniel Schafer at Belmont University; David Gobel, Thomas Gensheimer, Celeste Guichard, and Robin Williams at SCAD; Maggie Bickford, Jo-Ann Conklin, Ann Dodge, Stephen Houston, Kay Dian Kriz, Andy Moul, Douglas Nickel, Herv Vanel, and especially Dietrich Neumann at Brown University; these librarians, teachers, and mentors nurtured me when I was in their care. I am also grateful to, among many others, William Bates, Julie Benton, Gary Boyd, Sibel Bozdoan, Monica Bravo, David Brownlee, David Brussat, Anna-Catherine Carroll, Lawrence Chua, Ista Clarke, Nathaniel Coleman, Elizabeth Darling, Cress Darwin, Victor Deupi, Paul Dobraszczyk, Andres Duany, Sonja Dmpelmann, Hamid El Jaouari, Ufuk Ersoy, Kjetil Fallan, Annette Giesecke, Joanna Gilmore, Andrew Gould, Vince Graham, Tigran Haas, John Haigh, Mazie Harris, Brian Horrigan, Stephen Houston, Amy Huang, Lars Irrgang, Naomi Jacobs, Justin Kegley, Il Kim, Kristopher King, Ronald Kloe, Amanda Lahikainen, Michael Lee, Brian Leounis, Ayla Lepine, David Lewis, Denis Linehan, Ruth Lo, Michael Lykoudis, Michael Mesko, Keith Morgan, Mikesch Muecke, Terri Mullholland, Louis Nelson, Ade Ofunniyin, Amparo Perez, Jose Perez, Antoine Picon, Edith Platten, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Kenneth M. Roemer, Lyman Tower Sargent, Peter Sealy, Neal Shasore, Nicole Sierra, Lydia Soo, Christian Steinert, Jacqueline Taylor, Lisa Tom, Dell Upton, Anthony Vidler, James Ward, Fletcher Williams III, Fan Zhang, and Catherine Zipf.

At the College of Charleston, where I am fortunate to teach today, I must thank my leadership: Richard Grant Gilmore III, Michael Haga, Mary Beth Heston, Todd McNerney, and Valerie Morris for their supportas well as Vincent Fraley, Harlan Greene, Diane Miller, and Marilyn Wilson, for going above and beyond. I thank my Reading Group colleagues, who have offered so much great advice on this book over the past few years: Rebekah Compton, Marian Mazzone, Barry Stiefel, and Jessica Streit. I must reiterate my thanks to Jessica, for her scholarly brilliance in the exhibition we curated together, The City Luminous: Architectures of Hope in an Age of Fear, which fed into this book in several ways. I am grateful to my many amazing and inspiring students, especially Paige Miller, who provided indispensable help preparing the final book package for submission.