Advance Praise for Our Lot:

“With the real estate crisis blighting thousands of neighborhoods and millions of lives, Alyssa's Katz's lucid, coolly outraged new book is an absolutely essential guide to how it all happened. Katz had the prescience to see what was coming, and her deeply researched, historically grounded book can help us all avoid similar catastrophes in the future.” —Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World

“Brilliantly researched and tightly argued, Our Lot reveals the untold story of the housing crisis through the eyes of the victims and villains that created it.”—Christopher Hayes, the Nation

"Our Lot is a page-turning tale of how a real estate boom was conjured on a foundation of false hopes and Wall Street alchemy. Alyssa Katz digs deeply into the devastation that reckless lending and cynical speculation visited upon American places like Cleveland, Ohio, and Lee County, Florida. Her book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the roots of our nation's housing crisis."—Michael Hudson, co-author, Merchants of Misery

“Our Lot is a sobering account of the origins of our current mortgage crisis. Katz methodically, and with great precision, traces the roots of homeownership in American society. Leaving few stones unturned, Our Lot provides an incisive analysis of the rational and speculative decisions that have made America so susceptible to the twists and turns of the housing industry. The book is a timely historical account, but its lessons are clear and penetrating for the contemporary era.”—Sudhir Venkatesh, author of Gang Leader for a Day

Reviews for Our Lot:

Alyssa Katz, author of Our Lot has an article in this month's American Prospect.

Alyssa Katz, author of Our Lot was recently interviewed by Paul Solman on The Newshour on PBS TV. See video.

“Our Lot is less a personal tale than a trenchant chronicle of how ‘all that had been sacred about home lending’ was upended.”—New York Times Book Review. Read full review and an excerpt of the first chapter.

Author Alyssa Katz contributed to a segment by Jim Zarroli on All Things Considered, NPR called "The Dangers Of Buying, Selling Anything Under The Sun". Read story.

When the Walls Came Tumbling Down, excerpt and review in The Washington Post.

“As the real estate crisis evolved, popular media explorations of what caused the problem grew common, but have largely been characterized by finger-pointing sound-bite duels, one industry or interest group vs. the other, e.g., Wall Street vs. real estate brokers, and so forth. Whether or not you agree that further finger-pointing is constructive, you will find that Our Lot…breaks the mold of surface-skimming blame-gaming…[E]ngrossingly vivid, humanizing and lyrical.”—Philadelphia Weekly. Read full review.

Our Lot is the leading review on the Daily Beast’s Book Beast.

Author Alyssa was interviewed by Newsweek’s Daniel Gross for a podcast that was posted to both Slate’s and the Big Money’s websites.

Listen to WNYC’s “Financial 411” interview with Alyssa Katz.

Alyssa was interviewed for an Iran’s Press TV for a show called “The Autograph," See the show.

"A cavalcade of books purporting to explain the roots of the housing crisis have emerged over the past few months, but Alyssa Katz's Our Lot stands out as the best one yet…Buy it, read it, and send it to your Congressman.”— Daily Finance.com.

The Progressive Book Club just made Our Lot a new pic.

Another great interview, this time with WMNF’s Community Radio out of Tampa, FL for a segment on foreclosures in Florida. Listen up!

Here's a great Q&A with Alyssa on Campus Progress. The book was also featured on their website's homepage. Campus Progress, part of the Center for American Progress, works to help young people -- advocates, activists, journalists, artists -- make their voices heard on issues that matter.

Feature in Fast Company.

Author Alyssa Katz contributed a piece to the Paul Solomon's “Business Desk” blog on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer's website. Read piece.

And here's another mention from Paul Solomon on his blog.

“Katz brings something fresh to the debate in “Our Lot” -- a down-in-the-trenches history of how the housing binge bubbled up from decades of social engineering by a government bent on encouraging home ownership.”—Bloomberg.com. Read coverage, Here’s the link to More Bloomberg

“To read Our Lot is to relive, in painful, anecdotal detail, the real estate bust that brought our economy low. Through Alyssa Katz…we remeet the exploited homeowners and the naive investors, and we cringe again at the blundering politicians and opportunistic lenders.”—Salon. Read full review.

Interview podcasted by Morning-Media-Tuesday

“The book's main strength lies in Katz's thoroughness and human touch. Her interviews with predators and victims are as engaging as they are troubling.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer. Read full review.

“[An] enlightening investigation of the housing bubble and ensuing bust…While the author explains the real estate crash with clear analysis and measured outrage, she also gives it a human face.”—Barnes and Noble. Read more.

“[R]eplete with informative background and vivid descriptions of the carnage that the housing crisis has wreaked on communities from Cleveland to Sacramento.”—Boston Globe. Read full review.

The Big Money, Slate’s business site, has posted an excerpt from Our Lotand put it on their homepage. Read excerpt. Reuters picked up the excerpt from The Big Money and has posted it to their website.

“Our Lot performs an invaluable journalistic service by giving us a bottom-up approach to the decade's housing madness.”—Austin American-Statesman. Read full review.

[A] richly detailed analysis of the recent (and ignominious) history of the American real estate market...Katz writes with authority and empathy. The many people the author interviews, from the single mother in Cleveland who lost her house just two years after buying it to the family living near Sacramento whose new home is already falling apart, become the heroes, victims and sometimes culprits in this gripping account of collective irresponsibility.”—Publishers Weekly

“There are many real estate stories yet to be told—while reading Our Lot, I kept wondering why I had not read these stories already, why there has not been more feature reporting on the people caught in the crisis. We get foreclosure and house price figures every month, but not enough about the stories behind the numbers. Why?...Katz’s important book introduces us to people still reeling financially.”—Good.