Mortgage Madness Inspires Two New Books

By: David LidskyMon Jun 1, 2009 at 2:00 PM

Courtesy W.W. Norton & Co

Courtesy Bloomsbury

Alyssa Katz NYU journalism professor	AUTHOR	Edmund L. Andrews New York Times reporter
Macro: Katz traces the crisis's roots to the twin push for lower-income homeownership and securitized-mortgage deregulation.	point of view	Micro: Andrews explains the crisis using the story of the everyman -- himself -- and how he came to buy more house than he could afford.
Rueful surprise at how no one stopped a slow-motion train wreck.	tone	Swings between self-flagellation and gallows humor.
How much time do you have?	villain	Alan Greenspan
Homeownership makes the poor wealthier and boosts citizens and their communities.	exploded myth	Borrowers deserve equal blame along with the lenders and Wall Street.
Both Clinton and Bush II using home owners as props in campaign events, but those families ultimately didn't succeed as exemplars of ownership.	Indelible scene	Andrews making Greenspan squirm when he explains he'll likely lose his house because of the former Fed chair's inaction.
"Too much money is a far more destructive force than too little, when it's there to be made by plundering neighborhoods house by house."	essence in a quote	"Hmm. Bad history, no income, no documentation, and none of the borrower's money on the line. What could go wrong?"
Maybe our society can learn from this crisis.	buy this book because...	The writer might be homeless if you don't.