Patios, Pools, and the Invention of the American Backyard

In the 1950s, Americans abandoned the front porch swings and stoops of the city in favor of the wide-open suburbs and spacious backyards. Through rare photographs, historic drawings and period advertisements, Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard explored the mid-century backyard of the 1950s from the rise of the suburbs, tract houses and the beauty of postwar garden design to the birth of the environmental movement.