Escape From the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream is the basis for Good Human Habitat. I completed this 84,000-word creative nonfiction book in April 2023. It was never published.
The story focuses principally on America but is written from the perspective of a US/Canadian citizen raising a family in Canada over two decades. Contrasting urban life in Canada and the US, the book explores how urban sprawl and slavery’s legacy intertwine to undermine quality of life.
In contrast, Good Human Habitat focuses equally on Canada and the United States as described in the About section.
In July and August of 2023, I reached out to about 30 people to ask them if they would consider reading either specific chapters or the book in its entirety. Out of this group, 24 people were kind enough to take the time to read the thing and share their perspectives below.
Separately, you can find an overview of the book, and chapter summaries.
Some of the reviewers I’d known for years, A few I had only recently met.
Their backgrounds are varied, and include a Columbia University Sociologist, a former Chicago gang member, a rabbi, a Japanese-American eye surgeon, a member of the Canadian intelligence community, a young Senate staffer, a Chinese-Canadian architecture student studying in the US, a 30-something female tech executive, a career flight attendant and lesbian mother, a Persian-Yemeni doctor, an Indian software architect, a Canadian university professor, and a retired dental equipment sales executive. You get the idea.
The feedback below is naturally going to be supportive of the writing. Friends and supportive acquaintances aren’t going to trash your work publicly. Yet I consider this feedback to be more than cheerleading exercise. I didn’t provide anyone with cliff-notes, and there is value in what’s being said.
I wanted to continue to make the feedback available because it’s a record of how a cross-section of Americans and Canadians responded to the story that underpins Good Human Habitat.
As it stands, I don’t have the necessary “platform” for the publishing industry, so the book remains unpublished. After reaching out to a dozen agents in 2023 and getting ignored a dozen times, I realized I had little appetite for the publishing business.
Below, you can listen to Part I of Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream.
Or you may chose to read it.
Feedback on the writing appear below. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their insights.
I find Patrick Moan’s conversation a much needed discussion. It’s enduring to me as an African American that we as a people have been successful with so many obstacles placed for us to fail. I think as an American if white America could see the power of us all succeeding how it would empower our country for the better.
I love when a book moves me. Today I was jarred from my suburban comfort and complacency. Reading part one, I found myself riveted to a subject that I honestly don’t reflect upon very often, but should. I paused to ask myself questions, such as- why am I just accepting the way things are? Why have I not questioned why this country’s “human habitat” is so dysfunctional? Most importantly- is there anything I can do as a citizen to help change the trajectory we’re on? One of the most startling and eye-opening facts the author brings forward is how far down on various rankings lists the US falls in terms of freedom. We convince ourselves we live in the freest country in the world, and this simply isn’t true (although it sure sounds good). I look forward to reading the rest of the book and learning more about how our history, especially slavery, has shaped the landscape of our living.
This book takes a view of the problems besetting American urban life that interweaves two strands we sometimes think of only separately – namely, racism and suburban sprawl. The author makes both vividly concrete by showing how each has affected him personally, not only in the places where he has lived but also in the frustrations he encountered as an urban planner. Moan illuminates the dilemmas we all face simply by living in the country we love. Every American should read it. And, given the powerful influence our country exerts on the rest of the world, foreigners should read it too.
Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream speaks directly to many issues that millions of Americans, particularly young Caucasians and professionals, are struggling with. As a young professional living in a major American city myself, who recognizes my immense privilege growing up in an American suburb, I find myself asking questions like: (1) What can I do to ensure that I am not feeding into a system of inequality and racial injustice? (2) How can I ensure a prosperous future for myself (and future family) that does not come at the expense of communities that have been historically disproportionately disadvantaged in the US? (3) Practically, what might Americans have to learn from Western neighbors in terms of improving urban quality of life for all people, especially those who do not come from relatively privileged backgrounds? (4) How can we fix issues of inequality, opportunity, education, housing, and healthcare in American cities?
While such questions are so grandiose that it would be nearly impossible to offer a single compelling response, Patrick Moan’s writing is the most thorough and digestible information that I have come across that addresses many, if not all, of these issues. His combination of well-researched data, relevant historical background, and personal storytelling offers a fascinating perspective that many Americans, myself included, do not encounter on a regular basis.
This book weaves a narrative between Patrick Moan’s own American experience and the lesser dealt with constructs of “real” American history. I’m left with the sense of his disillusionment with what America has become, along with a sense of “hope”. In what you may ask? A sliver of hope that an earnest dialogue at all levels of society about the “real” history and legacy of America are interwoven and hidden in a closet… that if we dare to take a look, we may see what we’re really made of and where we’re actually headed if not for fundamental change. His writing style makes the narrative palpable and relatable to every hue & creed of American.
This book is utterly amazing. It had me hooked from the intro through the end of Part 1. I read sections aloud to my husband, sharing information passionately and drawing parallels to current events. Moan has framed the subject matter in a way that enables the reader to absorb transformational information. His ties to history and descriptions of events as seen through people provide credibility and real-time empathy for the people affected by our culture. The timing of this book could not be more appropriate.
The book is a compelling series of interrelated stories, set in various times and places. It reads like a novel with our protagonist aiming to find remnants of the American dream. But it’s not fiction at all. Moan’s analysis of the unique aspects of American life answers the questions many people may not be inclined the ask – is the dream possible for all Americans? Any Americans? What is broken in our systems? And more importantly, why aren’t things working? It’s a story of discovering our culture and how it came to be. And it’s a critical thinking piece that I wish I had read in my high school senior English class as it prepares you for the realities of life in America.
I truly feel that this book, in its final form, should be mandatory reading for all Americans. And I believe it will become a bestseller. He’s written something desperately needed during this time; I believe it will open minds and change perspectives.
As a European, born in Britain now living in Scandinavia, Escape has confirmed my belief based on very well research facts presented in an understandable erudite manner that the US is not the land of the free and never has been for a large percentage of the population and clinging onto this myth delays the desperate need to fix this situation, which America can and must do. Europe needs to follow suit and take heed.
This book was a fascinating revelation for me as I knew of America’s legacy with slavery and the problems of finding livable urban environments built on a human scale with access to nature close to home, not totally dominated by the car. But i never considered how the two were linked and how deep rooted racism and unabated economic might of large corporations have created a social dystopia for many citizens of the republic.
Moan has not only written an essential historical account on the ills of racism and poor town planning but offers solutions and hope for the future. Escape must be read by both the voter and politician.
Having read such recent masterpieces by Isabel Wilkerson and Clint Smith (and others) who are challenging readers to face the impossibly brutal history at the core of the American landscape, exploring some of this history told from a different perspective seems important. Moan’s carefully researched, personally passionate and beautifully crafted prose make for a most stimulating and thought-provoking read. Anyone who’s been conscious in the US for the last several decades will find significant insights in this manuscript, perhaps even helping us to make sense of the bewildering political landscape in which we find ourselves today. The added element of personal narrative threaded throughout the text makes the work uniquely accessible and compelling.
Have you ever wondered why it’s hard to find charming towns in the United States with a mix of brand-name and mom-and-pop stores lining walkable streets with apartments above them? Or found yourself pulled to the suburbs in search of public schools with more resources than under-funded city schools? In Escape, Moan weaves a blend of factors that shaped the physical realities of America’s toughened cities and automobile-defined suburbs along with its painful and under-told forces that continue to shape the racial fabric of the United States. It exposes truths that most Americans instinctually know but can’t describe, giving us new tools to be active participants in (rather than bystanders simply experiencing) the physical environment where we seek and make our homes.
Patrick Moan’s deep research of the subject of racism in America reveals little known facts and public policies that have engendered America’s continued racism. This book shines a bright light on the United States’ dark history of its mistreatment of Blacks, which has methodically been unspoken and hidden from view.
At the same time, Moan’s book is an intimate portrait of an American family’s search for an ideal community in two countries, one of which was fated to fail to provide good human habitat due to its ingrained attitudes and policies towards Blacks. The pictures formed in my mind while reading his book are of the juxtaposition of family photos and lynching postcards scattered on the floors of the homes he has inhabited in his search for an acceptable home and community for his family. The book’s movement from date nights and walks in a Canadian park to the inhumane torture of innocent blacks gives a flow of emotions that keep the reader turning the pages well past bedtime.
I encourage all humans to read this book. For me, to know the history of my country is the first step in healing the divide between fellow Americans, and there is no more honorable goal at this moment than that.
Patrick Moan’s writing is well-researched and nuanced. Over the past decade, as a middle-aged white man, I’ve read a fair amount about the Great Migration and begun to understand the brutality of the black experience, most notably for males, in the 20th century and beyond. Despite that reading, I was surprised to learn so much more about the horrors of lynching and the in-depth discussion of lynching postcards.
This is also the first time I’ve ever understood red-lining, which Moan explains via a clear historical overview.
The chapters sometimes meander among apparently disparate subjects, although the path of how all these will fit together is fortunately clear from the outset.
The brevity of the chapters make this book accessible to many readers.
In the United States it seems most of us are unhappy with our surroundings. Patrick Moan talks about three reasons—the ugliness of the built environment, our isolation as individuals in disconnected neighborhoods, and our painful separation by race—and ties them together with an unusual historical perspective. The message is severe but not tedious. Escape from the Sunlit Prison is full of fascinating detail, and Moan’s great, readable style and interwoven stories about his own life create a bond with the reader.
This book really hit home for me, and I think it will for a lot of people. It’s about a certain kind of low-key misery that we’re all living with as Americans. I assume that, like me, most people try to ignore it and carry on with life, but the environment is bad for us. Anyone who feels that way should read this book—in other words, everyone? Moan tells us a lot about how we ended up here and how we could start to change it.
As an architecture student currently studying in the United States, I feel this book is extremely relevant and brings up some very well-camouflaged relationships between our dysfunctional built environment and the American history of racial trauma. It is a relationship that is nuanced and very difficult to unpack, but which is a necessary discussion for us to move forward into our united future. Especially at the current time, as we wrestle with our current political divides, many of us neglect to look back on history to understand how we came to our blistering, divided, unlivable present-day cities. Part 1 is very promising and I really look forward to reading the full book.
Moan has the courage to delve into areas of America’s foundational history responsible for the societal dysfunction experienced in America today. His book is an unselfish attempt to awaken the collective American consciousness of its historical injustices seemingly neglected by the state.
The modern unified German state has faced its Nazi past. Canada and Australia are engaged in an ongoing process of reconciliation with their respective indigenous/colonial past. Imperfect perhaps, it holds the promise of reshaping their modern societies to be more inclusive and equal.
America needs a new awakening. Moan’s book is long overdue.
I read the manuscript for Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream while on vacation in Margaree, NS, a famous salmon fishing river, and where a 20 lb salmon “flashed” not 10 ft from where I was swimming. The image of wrestling a fish with this much strength on the end of a fly line became symbolic of the wrestling I did with my understanding of human nature while reading the book.
Poor human habitat in cities has been well documented since Roman times but what was propelled into my thoughts was the nature of cities to breed corruption, resulting in desperation of the masses, and the inevitable public “lurch” toward an authoritarian ruler. In particular, the unfortunate tendency for a large citizenry to act cynically has a history of incubating slavery where smaller groups were incapable of self-defense. The cynicism was weaponized by ambitious rulers to “caste” the populace in which slaves and serfs occupied the bottom rungs while only enough as needed were held above them to keep the pyramid of power intact.
Part and parcel with this was sectarianism which pulled the mid-level supporters into the team, against their individual morality, such that they were capable of rationalizing actions against their religious faith.
Although Christianity and democracy were finally able to begin stamping out slavery from the late 18th to the late 20th centuries, the same latent tendencies of a large citizenry remain today, and politicians are hard at work trying to manipulate it.
I was reminded of John Newton’s life story as described in one of Christianity’s most beloved hymns, “Amazing Grace”, and how parallel it was to Romans 6:23…. “for the wages of sin is death”…… meaning spiritual death. Have urban cores suffered a spiritual death?
The good human habitat that Patrick Cass Moan describes is actually the resultant setting of attention to spirituality. It can only be obtained by abandoning the cynicism of a large citizenry unless we all want to live out something akin to “The Hunger Games”.
Well; I slipped the hook, and in the end, I’m left much more aware yet with more questions than before.
Have you ever come across a book that lays out in a clear and compelling way something you have felt all along but been unable, maybe afraid, to articulate yourself? Moan does a fantastic job of laying out the facts of how we got to where we are today in the United States. The loneliness and dysfunction within our society are so embedded that we forget to even acknowledge it, let alone challenge it. This book explains the history of how we arrived at this current state of dissatisfaction and loneliness through racism, greed, and the physical building of a society that is structured to isolate AND contain.
Moan also does a wonderful job of telling his own family history and how it was impacted throughout the evolution of our society in a very real, raw, and relatable way. Although it is often painful to look at where we are and where we’ve been, we need to do so if we are to create change and improve upon what has been built. Moan gives us the tools and the hope to believe that we can do better.
Wow, “Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream” by Patrick Moan is a truly thought-provoking book. Moan dives deep into the connection between urban development and the lasting impact of slavery in America. It’s a fascinating look at how our past influences our present society. What struck me most about this book is Moan’s ability to engage readers in a meaningful dialogue about inequality and privilege. He sheds light on important issues that many of us often overlook.
Moan’s storytelling is exceptional; he weaves together personal experiences, historical context, and solid research to create a captivating narrative. When reading the book, it’s impossible not to reflect on our own lives and the larger picture of American society.
If you’re interested in understanding the complexities of urban development, racial justice, and the American experience, “Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream” is a must-read. It’s a powerful and enlightening book that will leave a lasting impact on your perspective. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!
What is home? Is it a physical place? A state of mind? An American ideal gone awry? Moan does a deep dive into these questions in his thought-provoking and well researched book, “Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream,” a critical analysis of America’s obsession with urban sprawl, which traces its roots back to our country’s history of slavery.
Moan’s work should be on the reading list for anyone who cares about walkable neighborhoods and human-centered spaces. If you’ve ever questioned the whitewashed version of American history you were taught in high school or, having achieved a pre-packaged version of the American dream, wondered if it was really worth it — you should read this book!
What makes Moan’s work singularly unique and significant is its ability to connect two aspects of American society which at first seem disparate and unrelated. How could our country’s automobile-centric suburban developments be even remotely related to our nation’s history of racism and slavery of an entire class of people? The book’s revelations are both sobering and worthy of examination.
When I finished Patrick Moan’s work I asked myself “where does this fit in my life” ? as well as who really needs to read it. I think it is clearly for all Americans because there is no doubt, and the research he uses, certainly makes the case that racism is still at the heart of our culture. In fact I would argue that systemic racism defines our culture…and has laid waste to any broad economic commitment to building back urban cities available and attractive to all.
I sense that the place for Moan’s work to make the biggest impact is in early education settings. And also for a visiting lecturer position for him at any state funded university that has the widest student demographic possible. If you want a comfortable entry into his work just listen to the audio he provides. You can hear the passion in his voice, the spinning of his brain, and the beat of his heart.
Moan’s work brings to mind the question made famous by the writer David Foster Wallace in his 2005 commencement speech to graduates at Kenyon College: does a fish know what water is? Our failure to both recognize as myths the stories that we tell ourselves about what it means to be an American and to critique the culture and policies that have arisen out of these myths means that we take them to be innate and immutable. In other words, we fail to question our culture and its patterns because these beliefs are the water we’re swimming in.
In Escape from the Sunlit Prison of the American Dream, Moan identifies this failure as one with existential consequences for our ability to offer most Americans a good way of life. He demands that privileged, White Americans question our inner template, with the hope that once we are willing and able to see and question our myths, we will be in a stronger position to make decisions and policies that bring our nation closer to its stated ideals. Polarization temps us to bask in arrogant certitude. Humility opens our hearts and minds to reconsidering the foundations on which we have built our country. Moan has offered us a powerful nudge toward humility.
As an person from India who has lived in the USA for over 20 years, this book is eye opening to see the life experiences of Patrick Moan. A lot of the current problems of our country seems to be rooted in how a segment of the American population was subject to injustice. Any time a great injustice is not addressed head-on, it has a way of metastasizing into places that are unexpected. By clearly talking about how urban planning and history of slavery has taken us to where we are, it shines a light to a potential solution. When we as a country have the courage to face the truth and collectively decide to improve the way we decide to change our living spaces, we have a very bright future in front of us.
This is an extremely timely book, eloquently and yet accessibly written. It is accessible partly because of its language, but also because much of it is a memoir, and is based on the lived experiences of a man who has walked attentively and compassionately along the streets of many cities in North America and around the world. Walking is key. Can we walk the streets of where we live to find what we need not just to survive, but to flourish–to be “at home”?
This book takes us along the author’s walk, his life and his long family history, weaving a disturbing narrative about the connection between urban design (his professional training) and the racialized scars and ongoing violence of America’s cities, written honestly, courageously conscious of his white privilege.
And although he contrasts his home in eastern Canada (Halifax) with those cities, Canada too has its challenges with both invidious urban design and racism; indeed citizens of all cities around the world should read this book carefully. The path the author asks us to walk along going forward is one all of us must walk who live in and care about our urban communities and the influence they have on our national and personal characters.
As a small business owner in a city plagued by the problems Patrick Moan describes (Rochester), it was a pleasure to be able to chat with him on the development of this book recently. It’s important to shed light on the effects America is still facing so many years later, as a product of segregation and slavery. The connections he makes go so much deeper than what the school system presents. I am very much looking forward to the reading this book in its final form.
Patrick has addressed some very topical issues in his book. As an Irish person who grew up with little information about African-American inequality and since, has lived in US (Montana) and Canada (Nova Scotia) for short periods, I can easily recognise some the social and economic obstacles highlighted in Patrick’s historical novel. Very interesting – I would love to hear more…. Orla