How does a small town... a county... a state... or a nation reverse the twin blights of suburban sprawl and urban decay? This question became the focal point of a crusade by Pennsylvania newsman Tom Hylton in the mid 1980s, as he watched his lovely small town decline while the surrounding countryside was paved over for a jumble of roads, stores, parking lots, and tract housing.

This crusade led to a Pulitzer Prize, a year-long planning fellowship, an influential book, a public television documentary, and finally, to the charitable corporation Save Our Land, Save Our Towns, Inc.