Title: Homewreckers

Author: Aaron Glantz

Publisher: Custom Houseand Imprint of William Morrow

ISBN: 978---06-286954-8

Aaron Glantz’sHomewreckers presents a searing indictment of the financialand political forces that exploited the 2008 housing crisis, framingthe aftermath as a systematic transfer of wealth from middle-classAmericans to a select group of financiers.

The book combinesmeticulous investigative journalism with a progressive economicperspective to document what Glantz terms “the grim, lesser-knownsecond act” of the crisis—not recovery, but calculated plunder.

Glantz’s narrativestrength lies in his ability to connect high-finance mechanisms tohuman suffering. 

While most accounts of the 2008 collapse focus onthe institutional failures leading to the crash, Homewreckersdocuments the deliberate exploitation that followed.

The author traces howgovernment agencies sold foreclosed properties in bulk at discountedprices to private equity firms and investors who later populated theTrump administration—including Steve Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, and TomBarrack.

These figures, Glantzargues, treated national tragedy as investment opportunity, buildingfortunes through aggressive evictions and property accumulation whilefamilies faced displacement and financial ruin.

The book’s journalisticrigor is evident in its detailed case studies from California,Florida, and Nevada neighborhoods hollowed out by corporatelandlords.

Glantz gives voice tohomeowners wrongfully foreclosed upon and tenants living in neglectedproperties under new corporate ownership, transforming abstracteconomic data into tangible human cost. 

This ground-level reportingstrengthens his central thesis that the crisis response prioritizedfinancial institutions over American families.

Where Homewreckersexcels as investigative polemic, it occasionally falters inanalytical balance. The narrative’s sustained focus on villainizingspecific individuals sometimes comes at the expense of examiningbroader systemic factors.

The complex interplay ofglobal economic forces, regulatory failures across multipleadministrations, and bipartisan policy shortcomings receive lessattention than the actions of identifiable antagonists. This approachcreates compelling storytelling but may leave readers seeking a morecomprehensive analysis wanting.

Glantz’s progressivelens offers valuable insights into wealth inequality and corporatepredation, particularly in documenting how financializationtransformed housing from shelter into investment vehicle.

His comparison between NewDeal-era housing policies and post-2008 responses effectivelyhighlights shifting political priorities. However, the book’spolemical tone sometimes overwhelms nuance, with tangential detailsabout political figures’ personal lives distracting from its coreargument.

Despite these limitations,Homewreckers succeeds as a powerful work of economicjournalism that remains urgently relevant. Its explanation of howcorporate landlords gained dominance in housing markets providescrucial context for understanding contemporary affordability crises. 

The book serves as both historical record and warning, illustratinghow crisis responses can exacerbate rather than alleviate inequality.

For readers seeking tounderstand the human impact of financial engineering and the lastingconsequences of the 2008 collapse, Homewreckers offersessential—if distressing—reading. 

While its perspective isunabashedly partisan, its documentation of systemic failures andindividual suffering constitutes an important contribution to theliterature on economic justice. 

The book leaves readers with asobering realization: the mechanisms that enabled the “homewrecking”Glantz describes remain largely intact, waiting for the next crisisto exploit.