The Hamptons have long served as a release valve for the urban pressures of New York City. In Weekend Utopia, journalist Alastair Gordon traces the always competitive and often humorous development of this inescapably beautiful but maddeningly self-conscious place. Gordon gets past the hype to reveal the true legacy of the Hamptons as a laboratory of experimental art, architecture, and lifestyle that has redefined the very idea of American summer leisure.<BR>What drove the restless seasonal migration to the Hamptons? Who went and why? To answer these questions, Gordon looks to the architecture of the summer house and how it reflected the aspirations and affectations of the Hampton's weekend pilgrim. From the country clubs of the Social Register elite to the experimental houses and studios of avant-garde artists like Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell to the daring beachfront homes by architects such as Peter Blake, Philip Johnson, and George Nelson, Weekend Utopia offers revealing insights into the evolution of the modern beach house and the culture that went along with it.<BR>Weekend Utopia is not merely a book about architecture and real estate. It is a book about the meaning of place. Exhaustively researched and illustrated with more than 350 images - including photographs, drawings, post-cards, and many artifacts never seen before - Gordon explains how the Hamptons grew from a quiet rural outpost into the high-powered resort of today.