NONFICTION - Aug. 25, 1991

POSTSUBURBAN CALIFORNIA: The Transformation of Orange County Since World War II, edited by Rob Kling, Spencer Olin and Mark Poster (University of California: $34.95; 303 pp.) . Inhabiting that sensible middle ground between chamber-of-commerce celebration and pugnacious revisionism (polarities our regional histories have too often gravitated toward), this is a winning collection of essays about a county many believe to be paradigmatic of America’s suburban future.