Synopses & Reviews
Part family story and part urban history, a landmark investigation of segregation and urban decay in Chicagoand cities across the nation
The "promised land" for thousands of Southern blacks, postwar Chicago quickly became the most segregated city in the North, the site of the nations worst ghettos and the target of Martin Luther King Jr.s first campaign beyond the South. In this powerful book, Beryl Satter identifies the true causes of the citys black slums and the ruin of urban neighborhoods throughout the country: not, as some have argued, black pathology, the culture of poverty, or white flight, but a widespread and institutionalized system of legal and financial exploitation.
In Satters riveting account of a city in crisis, unscrupulous lawyers, slumlords, and speculators are pitched against religious reformers, community organizers, and an impassioned attorney who launched a crusade against the profiteersthe authors father, Mark J. Satter. At the heart of the struggle stand the black migrants who, having left the South with its legacy of sharecropping, suddenly find themselves caught in a new kind of debt peonage. Satter shows the interlocking forces at work in their oppression: the discriminatory practices of the banking industry; the federal policies that created the countrys shameful "dual housing market"; the economic anxieties that fueled white violence; and the tempting profits to be made by preying on the citys most vulnerable population.
A monumental work of history, this tale of racism and real estate, politics and finance, will forever change our understanding of the forces that transformed urban America.
Beryl Satter was raised in Chicago, Skokie, and Evanston, Illinois. A graduate of the Harvard Divinity School and the Yale American studies program, she is the author of Each Mind a Kingdom and the chair of the Department of History at Rutgers University in Newark. For her work in progress on Family Properties, Satter received a J. Anthony Lukas citation. She lives in New York City.
The "promised land" for thousands of Southern blacks, postwar Chicago quickly became the most segregated city in the North, the site of the nations worst ghettos and the target of Martin Luther King Jr.s first campaign beyond the South. In this powerful book, Beryl Satter identifies the true causes of the citys black slums and the ruin of urban neighborhoods throughout the country: not, as some have argued, black pathology, the culture of poverty, or white flight, but a widespread and institutionalized system of legal and financial exploitation.
In Satters riveting account of a city in crisis, unscrupulous lawyers, slumlords, and speculators are pitched against religious reformers, community organizers, and an impassioned attorney who launched a crusade against the profiteersthe authors father, Mark J. Satter. At the heart of the struggle stand the black migrants who, having left the South with its legacy of sharecropping, suddenly find themselves caught in a new kind of debt peonage. Satter shows the interlocking forces at work in their oppression: the discriminatory practices of the banking industry; the federal policies that created the countrys shameful "dual housing market"; the economic anxieties that fueled white violence; and the tempting profits to be made by preying on the citys most vulnerable population.
Part family story and part urban history, Family Properties is a landmark investigation of segregation and urban decay in Chicagoand cities across the nation. A monumental work of history, this tale of racism and real estate, politics and finance, will forever change our understanding of the forces that transformed urban America. "A penetrating examination of the financial discrimination that thousands of African Americans encountered in their northward migration to cities such as Chicago . . . [Satter's] painstakingly thorough portrayal of the human costs of financial racism is the most important book yet written on the black freedom struggle in the urban North."David J. Garrow, The Washington Post
"Historians who write about close friends or relatives do so at their peril. Personal engagement, so essential to the memoir, can confound historical judgment and scholarly detachment, especially when family honor hangs in the balance . . . Yet somehow [Satter] has managed to stay on course, using her considerable investigative skills and unwavering sense of fairness to write a revealing and instructive book . . . A cautionary tale of governmental complicity, Family Properties follows the social historian's dictum of 'asking big questions in small places.' It reminds us that history and memory are essential tools for anyone pondering our current predicament."Raymond Arsenault, The New York Times Book Review
"The historian and the storyteller in Ms. Satter are never at war with each other. Family Properties is so packed with the horrors visited upon black families in Chicago from the 1940s through the 1970s that you will want to walk outside every 15 pages or so and simply scream in outrage. Yet her tone throughout is dispassionate. She is at heart a historian, not a memoirist. And she is a vertiginously good one. Her book is transfixing from its first sentence . . . the pleasures here are deep and resonant ones. Family Properties feels like something close to an instant classic."Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"A penetrating examination of the financial discrimination that thousands of African Americans encountered in their northward migration to cities such as Chicago. Redlining is a familiar, if poorly understood, word for the refusal to insure mortgages in black neighborhoods. Satter shows how it worked in vivid, personal terms. Her painstakingly thorough portrayal of the human costs of financial racism is the most important book yet written on the black freedom struggle in the urban North . . . Family Properties is a superbly revealing and often gripping book."David J. Garrow, The Washington Post
"A professor of history at Rutgers-Newark and a native of Chicago and its environs, Beryl Satter skillfully and creatively weaves the story of her own family into a powerful narrative of neighborhood decline, economic exploitation and individual and community activism. The result is a moving and eloquent account of the forces black Chicagoans were up against, and the efforts of reformers, black and white, to combat them. Hers is a complicated story that is extremely well told . . . Family Properties is organized around two interrelated themesa neighborhood's decline and the crusade of Satter's father on its behalf . . . Based on his own investigations, Mark Satter estimated that as much as '85 percent of the properties purchased by blacks were sold on contract' in 1950s Chicago. Driven by the 'heartbreaking details of his clients' lives,' Satter waged a lonely and largely unsuccessful crusade against contract selling and related practices in the courts, newspaper columns, speeches, and television and radio appearances. In waging his one-man war, Satterwho his daughter acknowledges was a complicated, difficult manmade countless enemies. Family Properties doesn't end with Mark Satter's death. Nor does the familial angle lead Beryl Satter down the path of romanticizing her father, his clients, or blacks and white activists. She also guards against the temptation to demoni
Review
"Beryl Satter's Family Properties is really an incredible book. It is, by far, the best book I've ever read on the relationship between blacks and Jews. That's because it hones in on the relationship between one specific black community and one specific Jewish community and thus revels in the particular humanity of all its actors. In going small, it ultimately goes big."
—Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
“This is rich material… Satter balances personal stories, including moments of great bravery, with painstaking legal and historical research. Family Properties is transfixing from the first sentence. The pleasures here are deep and resonate ones… an instant classic.”
—Dwight Garner, The New York Times “Satters painstaking thorough portrayal of the human costs of financial racism is the most important book yet written on the black freedom struggle in the urban North. Family Properties is a superbly revealing and often gripping book.”
—David Garrow, The Washington Post “Beryl Satter has taken the hard road to glory in her study of race and housing discrimination in Chicago during the 1950s and ‘60s. Yet somehow she has managed to stay on course, using her considerable investigative skills and unwavering sense of fairness to write a revealing and instructive book… A cautionary tale of government complicity, Family Properties follows the social historians dictum of “asking big questions in small places.” It reminds us that history and memory are essential tools for anyone pondering our current predicament.”
—The New York Times Book Review “This sweeping chronicle of greed and racism combines a noble and tragic family history with a painful account of big city segregation and courageous acts of community resistance. In riveting stories and thoughtful analysis, Satter powerfully discloses how manipulation and abuse shattered lives and deepened urban inequality.”
—Ira Katznelson, author of When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold Story of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America “Beryl Satter brings Chicagos West Side to life in this vivid history of a neighborhood fighting for survival. She gives the urban crisis a human face in unforgettable portraits of the slumlords and the activists and lawyers (including her father) who battled valiantly against them.”
—Thomas J. Sugrue, author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North “This history of a place called Lawndale, on the west side of Chicago, is an archetypal American story of struggle and rise, race and divisiveness, justice denied and then justice achieved. Clyde Ross, Ruth Wells, Mark J. Satter, Monsignor Egan, Jack Macnamara, and the others—these are American heroes. I was privileged to be briefly involved, and I'm so glad to see Family Properties, after all these years, that I could hoot with joy, and then weep.”
—David Quammen, author of Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction
“This is how the story of urban America after the Second World War ought to be written, with gritty realism and no illusions. Here is urban history as a drama of moral conflict and religious passion. Family Properties is a searing and deeply moving work, by a loving daughter and a great historian.”
—Robert Orsi, Professor of Religion and History, Northwestern University “One of the most contentious issues of twentieth century America was the transformation of middle-class white neighborhoods into African-American slums. The cast of characters is familiar—unscrupulous realtors, heartless slumlords, promiscuous welfare mothers, rapacious drug dealers, corrupt politicians, discriminatory savings and loan associations, and a racist government. But Beryl Satter tells a different story, a nuanced story, and a personal story in this compelling re-examination of a phenomenon everyone knows about and no one understands. Family Properties will change the way you think about history and about causation.”
—Kenneth T. Jackson, Barzun Professor of History, Columbia University
Review
“This is rich material… Satter balances personal stories, including moments of great bravery, with painstaking legal and historical research. Family Properties is transfixing from the first sentence. The pleasures here are deep and resonate ones… an instant classic.”
Dwight Garner, The New York Times “Satters painstaking thorough portrayal of the human costs of financial racism is the most important book yet written on the black freedom struggle in the urban North. Family Properties is a superbly revealing and often gripping book.”
David Garrow, The Washington Post “Beryl Satter has taken the hard road to glory in her study of race and housing discrimination in Chicago during the 1950s and ‘60s. Yet somehow she has managed to stay on course, using her considerable investigative skills and unwavering sense of fairness to write a revealing and instructive book… A cautionary tale of government complicity, Family Properties follows the social historians dictum of “asking big questions in small places.” It reminds us that history and memory are essential tools for anyone pondering our current predicament.”
The New York Times Book Review “This sweeping chronicle of greed and racism combines a noble and tragic family history with a painful account of big city segregation and courageous acts of community resistance. In riveting stories and thoughtful analysis, Satter powerfully discloses how manipulation and abuse shattered lives and deepened urban inequality.”
Ira Katznelson, author of When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold Story of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America “Beryl Satter brings Chicagos West Side to life in this vivid history of a neighborhood fighting for survival. She gives the urban crisis a human face in unforgettable portraits of the slumlords and the activists and lawyers (including her father) who battled valiantly against them.”
Thomas J. Sugrue, author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North “This history of a place called Lawndale, on the west side of Chicago, is an archetypal American story of struggle and rise, race and divisiveness, justice denied and then justice achieved. Clyde Ross, Ruth Wells, Mark J. Satter, Monsignor Egan, Jack Macnamara, and the othersthese are American heroes. I was privileged to be briefly involved, and I'm so glad to see Family Properties, after all these years, that I could hoot with joy, and then weep.”
David Quammen, author of Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction
“This is how the story of urban America after the Second World War ought to be written, with gritty realism and no illusions. Here is urban history as a drama of moral conflict and religious passion. Family Properties is a searing and deeply moving work, by a loving daughter and a great historian.”
Robert Orsi, Professor of Religion and History, Northwestern University “One of the most contentious issues of twentieth century America was the transformation of middle-class white neighborhoods into African-American slums. The cast of characters is familiarunscrupulous realtors, heartless slumlords, promiscuous welfare mothers, rapacious drug dealers, corrupt politicians, discriminatory savings and loan associations, and a racist government. But Beryl Satter tells a different story, a nuanced story, and a personal story in this compelling re-examination of a phenomenon everyone knows about and no one understands. Family Properties will change the way you think about history and about causation.”
Kenneth T. Jackson, Barzun Professor of History, Columbia University Jonathan Demme, filmmaker - A.O. Scott - Martin Arnold - Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes - J. B. Priestley - Charles de Lint - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Gillian Engberg - Clarissa Cruz - Jay Strafford - Hallie Ephron - Patrick Anderson - Walter Jon Williams - S. M. Stirling - Connie Willis, Hugo Award-winning author of To Say Nothing of the Dog - Morgan Llywelyn - Jacqueline Carey - George R.R. Martin - Frederick Busch - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Paul Di Filippo - Kirkus - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Jon Winokur - Neil Walsh - Andrew Leonard - Stephen R. Donaldson - Michael A. Stackpole - Glen Cook - Neil Walsh - Andrew Leonard - Stephen R. Donaldson - Michael A. Stackpole - Glen Cook - Neil Walsh - Stephen R. Donaldson - Jacqueline Carey - Glen Cook - Elizabeth Haydon - David Drake - Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, medical director for the New York City Marathon - Danielle Ofri M.D., Ph.D, author of Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at B - Jane Brody's "Personal Health" column in The New York Times - Ulick O'Connor - Michael Billington - Michael Coveney - Sir Ian McKellen - Oline H. Cogdill - Kristine Huntley - Oline H. Cogdill - Jay Strafford - Hallie Ephron - Marilyn Stasio - Wed Lukowsky - Spider Robinson - Robert Silverberg - Richard A. Lupoff - Harlan Ellison - George R. R. Martin - Jon Winokur - Alison Weir, author of Eleanor of Aquitaine and The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Eoin Colfer - John Banville - W.E.B. Griffin, author of Final Justice - James Carville - Nomar Garciaparra, professional baseball player - Martin Arnold - Ulick O'Connor - Michael Billington - Michael Coveney - Sir Ian McKellen - Bill Bryson - Jon Winokur - J. B. Priestley - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Ulick O'Connor - Michael Billington - Michael Coveney - Sir Ian McKellen - Jay Strafford - Hallie Ephron - Daniel Mallory - Robert Charles Wilson - Cory Doctorow - Ellen Kanner - Orson Scott Card - L.E. Modesitt, Jr. - Kevin J. Anderson - Katherine Kurtz - David Farland - Janet Maslin - Harlan Coben, author of No Second Chance - Andrew Klavan, author of True Crimes - Robert B. Parker, author of Back Story - Nelson DeMille, author of Up Country - Lisa Scottoline, author of Dead Ringer - Daniel Silva, author of The Confessor - Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson - Patrick Anderson - Sharon Sala, New York Times bestselling author of Out of the Dark - Lori Foster, New York Times bestselling author of Say No to Joe? - Janet Maslin - Harlan Coben, author of No Second Chance - Andrew Klavan, author of True Crimes - Robert B. Parker, author of Back Story - Nelson DeMille, author of Up Country - Lisa Scottoline, author of Dead Ringer - Daniel Silva, author of The Confessor - Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson - Patrick Anderson - Bill Bryson - Jon Winokur - J. B. Priestley - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Kirkus Reviews - L.E. Modesitt, Jr. - Kevin J. Anderson - Katherine Kurtz - David Farland - Orson Scott Card - Simon R. Green - Kevin J. Anderson - L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - David Farland - Gilbert Taylor - Karen Karbo - Martin Arnold - Walter Jon Williams - S. M. Stirling - Connie Willis, Hugo Award-winning author of To Say Nothing of the Dog - Morgan Llywelyn - Jacqueline Carey - George R.R. Martin - Paul Di Filippo - Patrick Anderson - John Farris - David Hagberg - W. Michael and Kathleen O' Neal Gear - Lincoln Child - Stephen Coonts - Sara Douglass - Bill Bryson - J. B. Priestley - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Gilbert Taylor - Jacqueline Carey - Jonathan Demme, filmmaker - A.O. Scott - Philip Pullman - John Blades - Oline H. Cogdill - Page Traynor - James Boylan - Janet L. Nelson - Mavis Reimer - Gail M. Gerhart - Jessica Wang - The Source - Bill Piekarski - Harold W. Jaffe - Jessica Wang - Elizabeth A. Muenger - Megan Cassidy-Welch - Jeffrey Merrick - John Gray - Gilles Kepel - Peter Bergen - Jeffrey Merrick - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - Jessica Wang - Jessica Wang - Mavis Reimer - Elizabeth A. Muenger - Norman A. Lockman - Terrence Hackett - Shannon Mullen - Jessica Wang - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Michael Stern - Edmund Carlevale - Martin Sieff - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - Jessica Wang - Jessica Wang - Jessica Wang - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - American Historical Review - American Historical Review - American Historical Review - Publishers Weekly - The Washington Times - The Boston Globe - The American Lawyer - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - American Historical Review - Asbury Park Press - Chicago Tribune - USA Today - War, Literature, and the Arts - The Lion and the Unicorn - American Historical Review - American Historical Review - Forum for Modern Language Studies - American Historical Review - Holy War, Inc. - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - New Statesman - American Historical Review - H-France - War, Literature, and the Arts - American Historical Review - New England Journal of Medicine - Library Journal - The Source - American Historical Review - Foreign Affairs - The Lion and the Unicorn - American Historical Review - Columbia Journalism Review - Publishers Weekly - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times BOOKreviews - South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Chicago Tribune - Kirkus Reviews - New York Times Book Review - San Francisco Chronicle - Booklist (starred review) - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Altair - TV Week (Australia) - The Washington Post Book World - The Los Angeles Times Book Review - Booklist - Library Journal - Boston Globe - Library Journal - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - Booklist, starred review - Publishers Weekly, starred review - San Francisco Chronicle - School Library Journal, starred review - Newsweek - Washington Post - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Parade - Publishers Weekly - Mystery News - Publishers Weekly - Chicago Tribune - Library Journal - The Washington Post - The Washington Times - Publishers Weekly - The Tampa Tribune - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Altair - TV Week (Australia) - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Library Journal - VOYA - Edmonton Journal - Bookpage - Rocky Mountain News - Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - SciFi.com - Publishers Weekly - Chronicle - Publishers Weekly - Publishers Weekly - The Dark Spiral - Chicago Tribune - Philadelphia Inquirer - The Orlando Sentinel - Booklist - The Australian Woman's Weekly - Time Out New York - Time Out New York - Library Journal - Cincinnati CityBeat - The Washington Post Book World - The Los Angeles Times Book Review - Booklist - Washington Post Book World - The New York Times - Philadelphia Inquirer - Newsweek - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) - Library Journal, Starred Review - Romantic Time Bookclub Magazine - Library Journal - Bookpage - Rocky Mountain News - Kirkus Reviews - The New York Times Book Review - The Atlantic Monthly - The Washington Post - Chicago Tribune Book World - The New York Times Book Review - Houston Chronicle - Los Angeles Times - The New York Times - San Francisco Chronicle - Time - Chicago Tribune - Publishers Weekly - Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - Publishers Weekly - Washington Post Book World - The New York Times - Philadelphia Inquirer - Newsweek - Newsweek - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Washington Post - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Parade - Publishers Weekly - Mystery News - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) - The New York Times - Entertainment Weekly (A-) - USA Today - People Magazine - New Orleans Times-Picayune - Bookpage - Rocky Mountain News - Publishers Weekly - Fangoria - Publishers Weekly - Mystery News - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - New York Daily News - Publishers Weekly - The Dallas Morning News - The Guardian [UK - ] - The New York Times - The Times [UK - ] - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) - The New York Times - Entertainment Weekly (A-) - USA Today - People Magazine - New Orleans Times-Picayune - Library Journal, Starred Review - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) - Romantic Time Bookclub Magazine - Bookpage - Rocky Mountain News - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - USA Today - Pages Magazine - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Fangoria - Romantic Times - El Paso Herald-Post - Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, USA Today bestselling authors - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - Max Evans - Norman Zollinger - Publishers Weekly - Richard Wheeler - Rocky Mountain News - Tony Hillerman - Tulsa World - The Washington Post - Library Journal - Booklist - Entertainment Weekly - Boston Globe - Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Financial Times (London) - The Guardian (London) - The Sunday Independent (London) - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Tribune Book World - Houston Chronicle - Los Angeles Times - Publishers Weekly - San Francisco Chronicle - The Atlantic Monthly - The New York Times - The New York Times Book Review - The New York Times Book Review - The Washington Post - Time - Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Washington Post Book World - The New York Times - Philadelphia Inquirer - Newsweek - Newsweek - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Washington Post - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Parade - The Financial Times (London) - The Guardian (London) - The Sunday Independent (London) - Time Out New York - The New York Times - The Washington Times - The Guardian - The Observer - Financial Times - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books - The New York Times Book Review - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - Booklist - The New York Times Book Review - Kirkus Reviews - Bulletin of Center for Children's Books - School Library Journal - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist, starred review - Publishers Weekly, starred review - San Francisco Chronicle - School Library Journal, starred review - Washington Post Book World - The New York Times - Philadelphia Inquirer - Newsweek - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Horn Book Magazine - School Library Journal - Publishers Weekly, starred review - Cory Doctorow, author of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town - Janny Wurts, author of Traitor's Knot - Kevin J. Anderson - Nalo Hopkinson, author of The Salt Roads - Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author - USA Today - Dallas Morning News - Fantasy Review - Houston Post - Publisher's Weekly - The Denver Post - The Providence Sunday Journal - The Washington Post Book World - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - New York Times Book Review - Entertainment Weekly - Boston Globe - Richmond Times-Dispatch - South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Booklist - South Florida Sun-Sentinel - Yoga Journal - The Financial Times (London) - The Guardian (London) - The Sunday Independent (London) - Newsweek - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly (starred) - SF Site - The Dallas Morning News - New York Observer - Booklist - Salon.com - SF Site - The Good Book Guide - Publishers Weekly - Salon.com - SF Site - The Good Book Guide - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Booklist - Romantic Times Bookclub - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Interzone - Library Journal - SF Site - Kirkus - USA Today - Enigma - SF Site - Australian Bookseller and Publisher - Australian Jewish News - Marie Claire (Australia) - Vogue (Australia) - Enigma - SF Site - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - SciFi.com - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Los Angeles Times - Vanity Fair - New York Times Book Review - Rocky Mountain News - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Cincinnati Enquirer - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Romantic Times Bookclub - The New York Times - The Washington Times - Los Angeles Times - West Coast Review of Books - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Booklist - Chicago Sun-Times - Rocky Mountain News - Chicago Tribune - New York Sun - Publishers Weekly - Fangoria - Horn Book Magazine - School Library Journal - USA Today - Entertainment Weekly - Boston Globe - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Entertainment Weekly - January Magazine - Booklist - Library Journal - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - New York Observer - The New York Times Book Review - Publishers Weekly - The Knoxville News-Sentinel - The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - Midwest Book Review - Santa Barbara News-Press - Newsweek - Library Journal - Greenwich Magazine - Time Out New York - New York Times Book Review - San Francisco Chronicle - Booklist (starred review) - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly (starred)
Review
andldquo;Weber gives us a compelling book that cements her reputation as one of the top urban planners in the field of urban political economy. Her sophisticated and nuanced understanding of complex systems like global finance and real estate markets is conveyed easily and accessibly to those both inside and outside of academia. From Boom to Bubble is a major contribution, one that will most certainly be widely read and discussed for years to come.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Weber offers an innovative and valuable approach, contributing important new insights and understanding to a multidisciplinary audience. From Boom to Bubble will be widely read as it contributes to the long standing and enduring scholarly focus on Chicago as the paradigmatic city and as a timely explication of financialization, the defining moment of the twenty-first century. Weber has an extraordinary depth of knowledge and she writes in an engaging and readable style that explains complex material in an accessible and understandable manner. This book solidifies Weberandrsquo;s position as one of the leading scholars of the urban built environment.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;In her focus on the role of property developers and their interactions with other agents in the construction process, Weber brilliantly shows the determining and indeterminate factors that create real estate booms and busts. A must-read for planners, geographers, urban sociologists, and political scientistsandmdash;and anyone concerned with the forces building and rebuilding cities.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Above all a work of quiet poetry and insight into human behaviour. It is full of wisdom.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;I read Common People with a mixture of admiration, awe and sorrow. . . . It is a remarkable achievement and should become a classic, a worthy successor to E. P. Thompsonandrsquo;s Making of the English Working Class. It is full of humanity.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;By turnsandnbsp;mesmericandnbsp;andandnbsp;deeply moving: aandnbsp;poeticandnbsp;excavation of the very meaning of history.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Part family story and part urban history, a landmark investigation of segregation and urban decay in Chicago—and cities across the nation
The "promised land" for thousands of Southern blacks, postwar Chicago quickly became the most segregated city in the North, the site of the nations worst ghettos and the target of Martin Luther King Jr.s first campaign beyond the South. In this powerful book, Beryl Satter identifies the true causes of the citys black slums and the ruin of urban neighborhoods throughout the country: not, as some have argued, black pathology, the culture of poverty, or white flight, but a widespread and institutionalized system of legal and financial exploitation.
In Satters riveting account of a city in crisis, unscrupulous lawyers, slumlords, and speculators are pitched against religious reformers, community organizers, and an impassioned attorney who launched a crusade against the profiteers—the authors father, Mark J. Satter. At the heart of the struggle stand the black migrants who, having left the South with its legacy of sharecropping, suddenly find themselves caught in a new kind of debt peonage. Satter shows the interlocking forces at work in their oppression: the discriminatory practices of the banking industry; the federal policies that created the countrys shameful "dual housing market"; the economic anxieties that fueled white violence; and the tempting profits to be made by preying on the citys most vulnerable population.
A monumental work of history, this tale of racism and real estate, politics and finance, will forever change our understanding of the forces that transformed urban America.
Synopsis
Part family story and part urban history, Satter's powerful work presents a landmark investigation of segregation and urban decay in post-Civil War Chicago--and cities across the nation.
Synopsis
Part family story and part urban history, a landmark investigation of segregation and urban decay in Chicago—and cities across the nation
The "promised land" for thousands of Southern blacks, postwar Chicago quickly became the most segregated city in the North, the site of the nations worst ghettos and the target of Martin Luther King Jr.s first campaign beyond the South. In this powerful book, Beryl Satter identifies the true causes of the citys black slums and the ruin of urban neighborhoods throughout the country: not, as some have argued, black pathology, the culture of poverty, or white flight, but a widespread and institutionalized system of legal and financial exploitation.
In Satters riveting account of a city in crisis, unscrupulous lawyers, slumlords, and speculators are pitched against religious reformers, community organizers, and an impassioned attorney who launched a crusade against the profiteers—the authors father, Mark J. Satter. At the heart of the struggle stand the black migrants who, having left the South with its legacy of sharecropping, suddenly find themselves caught in a new kind of debt peonage. Satter shows the interlocking forces at work in their oppression: the discriminatory practices of the banking industry; the federal policies that created the countrys shameful "dual housing market"; the economic anxieties that fueled white violence; and the tempting profits to be made by preying on the citys most vulnerable population.
A monumental work of history, this tale of racism and real estate, politics and finance, will forever change our understanding of the forces that transformed urban America.
Synopsis
How does a building boom happen? Who inflates a real-estate bubble and why? What causes companies to move from seemingly usable office space into new quarters only blocks away? Rachel Weber digs into these questions and more in her detailed analysis of Chicagoand#8217;s downtown development during the and#147;Millennial Boomand#8221; (1998and#150;2008). Weber shows what happens when the real estate industry, financial markets, and public planning all operate at warp speed to build new structures and destroy older ones. She draws on years of interviews with real estate actors across the country, participant observation in a secretive sector, analyses of financial and development data, as well as the history of the appraisal, brokerage, and real estate finance professions. As a result, Weberand#8217;s book is an unprecedented historical, sociological, and geographic look at how markets and urban change actually happen.
Synopsis
During the Great Recession, the housing bubble took much of the blame for bringing the American economy to its knees, but commercial real estate also experienced its own boom-and-bust in the same time period. In Chicago, for example, law firms and corporate headquarters abandoned their historic downtown office buildings for the millions of brand-new square feet that were built elsewhere in the central business district. What causes construction booms like this, and why do they so often leave a glut of vacant space and economic distress in their wake?
In From Boom to Bubble, Rachel Weber debunks the idea that booms occur only when cities are growing and innovating. Instead, she argues, even in cities experiencing employment and population decline, developers rush to erect new office towers and apartment buildings when they have financial incentives to do so. Focusing on the main causes of overbuilding during the early 2000s, Weber documents the case of Chicagoandrsquo;s andldquo;Millennial Boom,andrdquo; showing that the Loopandrsquo;s expansion was a response to global and local pressures to produce new assets. An influx of cheap cash, made available through the use of complex financial instruments, helped transform what started as a boom grounded in modest occupant demand into a speculative bubble, where pricing and supply had only tenuous connections to the market. Innovative and compelling, From Boom to Bubble is an unprecedented historical, sociological, and geographic look at how property markets change and failandmdash;and how that affects cities.
Synopsis
andldquo;Family history begins with missing persons,andrdquo; Alison Light writes in
Common People. We wonder about those weandrsquo;ve lost, and those we never knew, about the long skein that led to us, and to here, and to now. So we start exploring.
and#160;
Most of us, however, give up a few generations back. We run into a gap, get embarrassed by a neandrsquo;er-do-well, or simply find our ancestors are less glamorous than weandrsquo;d hoped. That didnandrsquo;t stop Alison Light: in the last weeks of her fatherandrsquo;s life, she embarked on an attempt to trace the history of her family as far back as she could reasonably go. The result is a clear-eyed, fascinating, frequently moving account of the lives of everyday people, of the tough decisions and hard work, the good luck and bad breaks, that chart the course of a life. Lightandrsquo;s forebearsandmdash;servants, sailors, farm workersandmdash;were among the poorest, traveling the country looking for work; they left few lasting marks on the world. But through her painstaking work in archives, and her ability to make the people and struggles of the past come alive, Light reminds us that andldquo;every life, even glimpsed through the chinks of the census, has its surprises and secrets.andrdquo;
and#160;
What she did for the servants of Bloomsbury in her celebrated Mrs. Woolf and the Servants Light does here for her own ancestors, and, by extension, everyoneandrsquo;s: draws their experiences from the shadows of the past and helps us understand their lives, estranged from us by time yet inextricably interwoven with our own. Family history, in her hands, becomes a new kind of public history.
About the Author
Alison Light is the author of the acclaimed Mrs. Woolf and the Servants. She is Honorary Professor in the Department of English at University College, London, and a contributor to the London Review of Books and writes regularly for the British press. Common People was shortlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize in Non-fiction and was a Book of the Year in the Times, Telegraph, Financial Times, Spectator, History Today, and the Scottish Herald.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Why We Overbuild
Part 1 Real Estate Speculations
1 The Rhythm of Urban Redevelopment
2 Fast Money Builds the Speculative City
3 Out with the Old: How Professional Practices Construct the Desire for New Construction
Part 2 Chicago in the 2000s
4 Downtown Chicagoandrsquo;s Millennial Boom
5 Who Overbuilt Chicago?
6 Making the Market for Chicagoandrsquo;s New Skyscrapers
Part 3 Building the Future
7 The Slow Build
Epilogue: Why We Will Continue to Overbuild
Appendix
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index