The Last Undiscovered Place

This is a kind of folk archeology that I love. In a nation now nearly catatonic from the ravages of suburbia, Leff does a fine job of recovering the lost memories, textures, rhythms, flavors, and feelings of authentic town life. - James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere ""[David Leff] moved to Collinsville in 1984 because it was only 16 miles west of Hartford yet fit his checklist. Walkable. Affordable. Good schools. Agreeably funky atmosphere. But over two decades, convenience turned to loyalty, and then to love. Leff earned community membership the hard way, chairing the historic district commission, restoring a Greek Revival house, even serving as a volunteer firefighter. ""This doubled vision has yielded a quietly intelligent guide to becoming 'native' to a place.... Defenders of the American sense of place can welcome, with pleasure and relief, an unusually authoritative defense of the charms of staying put."" - Preservation ""Want an alternative to life on 'Paradise Drive'? Read David Leff's The Last Undiscovered Place, and find a new and inspiring way of seeing your environment. Set in Collinsville, Connecticut, Leff's book argues that human beings are deeply affected by their experience of landscape, and that local interaction matters."" - Past Place