{"product_id":"property-values-joshua-specht-9780691238197","title":"Property Values: The Rise and Fall of the American Homeowner","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA wide-ranging history of American land ownership, from westward expansion to the suburban housing crisis\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom its very beginnings, the United States has defined itself by its relationship to land. Settlers saw the continent as the raw material for building a prosperous life while their leaders viewed it as a means for building a people. In the 1950s, the suburban home became a place for Americans to create a personal utopia of lawns and living rooms, of washing machines and dishwashers. \u003ci\u003eProperty Values\u003c\/i\u003e traces how land and its ownership became inextricably tied to the American ideal of independence--and demonstrates why the Homestead Act and a thirty-year mortgage have far more in common than you think. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this engaging book, Joshua Specht uncovers the history behind the American conviction that widespread land ownership is a fundamental requirement for a flourishing democratic society. We meet the nineteenth-century settler farmers whose dreams of new social and political forms were built on vast quantities of land taken from native peoples, and the European immigrants who came seeking a better life as land-owning citizens. For FDR, homeownership offered a path out of the depths of the Great Depression. For George W. Bush, it gave people a permanent stake in the American dream. Specht charts how the vision of plenty that first drew homesteaders westward gave way to one of scarcity and exclusion as new neighbors came to be seen as a threat to property values and a system meant to promote ownership put it squarely out of reach for many. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTaking readers from the rent wars of the early 1840s through the financial crisis of the late 2000s, \u003ci\u003eProperty Values\u003c\/i\u003e reveals why housing affordability has posed significant challenges to the nation's politics and promise since the founding, and why the American story has always been one about land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Joshua Specht\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691238197\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691238197\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 408\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Joshua Specht","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48242052727039,"sku":"9780691238197","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_fe2023eb-1f04-4785-9391-5f1009585953.jpg?v=1772657258","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/property-values-joshua-specht-9780691238197","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}