Cracked foundations : debt and inequality in suburban America / Michael Glass.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Glass, Michael, author.

Series:

Politics and culture in modern America.

Politics and Culture in Modern America Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Suburbs--Economic aspects--United States.

Suburbs.

Suburbs--Social aspects--United States.

Debt--United States.

Debt.

Equality--United States.

Equality.

Speculation--United States.

Speculation.

Suburban life--United States.

Suburban life.

Wealth--United States.

Wealth.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (365 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

2025.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2025]

Summary:

"How debt and speculation financed the suburban American dream and led to today's inequalities. In the popular imagination, the suburbs are synonymous with the 'American Dream' of upward mobility and economic security. After World War II, white families rushed into newly built suburbs, where they accumulated wealth through homeownership and enjoyed access to superior public schools. In this revelatory new account of postwar suburbanization, historian Michael R. Glass exposes the myth of uniform suburban prosperity. Focusing on the archetypal suburbs of Long Island, Cracked Foundations uncovers a hidden landscape of debt and speculation. Glass shows how suburbanites were not guaranteed decent housing and high-quality education but instead had to obtain these necessities in the marketplace using home mortgages and municipal bonds. These debt instruments created financial strains for families, distributed resources unevenly across suburbs, and codified racial segregation. Most important, debt transformed housing and education into commodities, turning homes and schools into engines of capital accumulation. The resulting pressures made life increasingly precarious, even for those privileged suburbanites who resided in all-white communities. For people of color denied the same privileges, suburbs became places where predatory loans extracted wealth and credit rating agencies punished children in the poorest school districts. Long Islanders challenged these inequalities over several decades, demanding affordable housing, school desegregation, tax equity, and school-funding equalization. Yet the unequal circumstances created by the mortgages and bonds remain very much in place, even today. Cracked Foundations not only transforms our understanding of housing, education, and inequality but also highlights how contemporary issues like the affordable housing crisis and school segregation have their origins in the postwar golden age of capitalism." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Part I. Cracks. A Decent Home

School Bonds

Tax Base

Part II. Pressure. Starter Home

Color Lines

Racial Balance

State Aid

Part III. Collapse. Converted Homes

Bailout Bonds

Fragile Alliances

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781512828238

1512828238

OCLC:

1514975700