The 100 Best Small Towns in America

by Norman Crampton

A nationwide guide to the best in small-town living features discussions of the location, economic base, population diversity, educational system, health care, and crime rate of one hundred towns across the United States.

392 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book thinking it would enlighten me on a future move but in all honesty I can find much better, much more current information for free on the internet by visiting sites like city-data and Best Places . The forums at city-data are also a great place to visit to get a true feel of a town from the people who actually live there. I wonder if this author even visited any of these towns.

This book is also dated so the financial, crime & growth information is not accurate which makes it almost useless for my needs. I looked up one of the recommended towns and things have changed dramatically. One local describes the town as a hellhole and says drugs are rampant in this little town, mosquitoes are unbearable and unfriendly dogs just run wild. This town is described as a desert paradise in the book so it makes me wonder about the rest of the recommendations here.

The book also tells very little about the "feel" of each town, which is very important to me and there are no pictures at all. What are the neighbors and communities like? Will the town be blown away by a hurricane or tornado? The book touts itself on interviewing actual residents of the town but I can't possibly imagine business owners and town planners saying negative things about the town and that is who the author chose to interview. I don't recall seeing any regular Joe type interviews. All in all it was rather a big waste of my time and I don't at all recommend it.

[Toesnorth's mom]

good