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Warner (Jr.), Sam Bass.  Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962 (a 1878 reprint).
 

Warner examines the gradual development of the two-part city -- the old center city ringed by the new outer suburbs -- in late nineteenth century Boston.  The street railway system gave the commuter a greater mobility, allowing for the eventual expansion of neighborhoods beyond the walking city.  Yet beyond the historical storyline, the most important issue raised by the work is the meaning of the suburbs in the United States.  For Warner, the migration to the suburbs fragmented community life and segregated socio-economic classes.  The centerless suburbs followed a grid pattern that did not concern itself with public life but economic efficiency.  "The result was not integrated communities arranged around a common center, but a historical and accidental traffic pattern" [158]. [R. Schoeberlein]