Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream

Members of President Trump’s inner circle have exploited the 2008 housing market collapse to amass wealth and power while sending U.S. homeownership rates to their lowest levels in more than 50 years, according to this cogent, infuriating exposé. Investigative journalist Glantz (The War Comes Home) targets such wealthy businessmen as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, real estate investor Thomas Barrack Jr., and private equity fund founder Stephen Schwarzman, all of whom placed big bets on the housing market in the years after the crash. Between 2012 and 2014, for example, Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group spent $7.8 billion to buy 41,000 foreclosed homes across the U.S. and flip them into rental properties. Meanwhile, Mnunchin’s OneWest Bank was being rewarded under the terms of its loss-share agreement with the FDIC for foreclosing on thousands of reverse mortgages across Southern California. As a result of the “rigged” system that made such maneuvering possible, Glantz writes, millions of middle-class households have lost their best opportunity to build wealth. His lucid prose and impressive research make this an essential account of an under-the-radar housing crisis. Agent: Anthony Arnove, Roam Agency. (Oct.)