Description
Book SynopsisIt is one part corporate and industrial history, using the evolution of mortgage finance as a way to understand larger dynamics in the nation's political economy. This biography weaves together three engrossing stories.
Trade Review"An impressive biography." -- Robert Bruegmann Wall Street Journal "It's very easy to highly recommend Building Home ... an interesting and uplifting read." -- John Tamny Forbes "At heart, this is about a son surpassing his goal to earn back a family company lost when his father died, but Abrahamson's dense analyses make this study relevant to today's debates about how to fairly regulate the financial marketplace." Publishers Weekly "Despite the nation's now-reluctant familiarity with mortgage finance, it can be a hard topic to warm up to. Reading Building Home, one not only warms to the subject, but also to the argument that big businesses and the government can work together for the public benefit." -- Kim Velsey New York Observer "Enjoyable storytelling." Martin Brower's Oc Report "Ahmanson (who died in 1968) is remembered-if at all-through the cultural institutions he supported: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Music Center. Abrahamson makes a compelling case that Ahmanson ought to be better remembered-positively and negatively-as a man who made much of Los Angeles." -- D. J. Waldie KCET/SoCal Focus blog "[Abrahamson] does an impressive job under difficult circumstances of documenting Ahmanson's life--warts and all... Fascinating reading." -- William G. Hamm ABA Banking Journal
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Father as Mentor 2. Among the Lotus Eaters 3. Undertaker at a Plague 4. The Common Experience 5. Building Home 6. Scaling Up 7. Home and the State 8. Political Economy 9. Big Business 10. The Crest of a New Wave 11. Southland Patrician 12. Influence 13. Short of Domestic Bliss 14. Breakdown of Consensus 15. Crisis of the Managed Economy 16. A New Way of Life 17. A Personal Epic Conclusion Abbreviations Used in Notes Notes Index
