Making Long Island: A History of Growth & the American Dream [ZOOM]

Explore the fascinating story of the development of Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties) between 1920 and 1980 with historian Lawrence Samuel, author of “Making Long Island: A History of Growth & the American Dream."

Long Island was a primary site of the pursuit of the American dream, as it offered affordable home ownership for the middle class that most compellingly expressed the nation’s core mythology. Beginning in the 1960s, however, that dream began to dissolve, as the postwar economic engine ran out of steam and as Long Island became as much urban as suburban. Despite all its current economic and social challenges, a new and improved American dream appears to be emerging on Long Island, and the place unarguably remains one of the beautiful places on the planet.