A Right to Housing: Foundation for a New Social Agenda
Rachel G. Bratt, Michael E. Stone, Chester Hartman, Editors, Temple University Press 2006, 448 pages, $40.00 (paperback). www.temple.edu/tempress

This collection of essays by leading activists and scholars examines the key issues related to America’s housing crisis, including income inequality and insecurity, segregation and discrimination, the rights of the elderly and legislative and judicial responses to homelessness.

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism
James W. Loewen, The New Press, 2005, 561 pages, $29.95 (hardcover). www.thenewpress.com

For much of the 20th century, thousands of communities from Maine to California were for whites only. The author explores the history and phenomenon of “sundown towns,” and reveals that all-white towns are not that way “naturally,” but rather the result of planned harassment, violence and threats. The book details the day-to-day mechanisms that keep towns white.

The Place You Love is Gone
Melissa Holbrook Pierson, W.W. Norton & Company, 2006, 208 pages, $24.95 (hardcover), $13.95 (paperback).
www.wwnorton.com

The author writes about Akron, Ohio, Hoboken, New Jersey, and upstate New York, revealing how development has transformed the places where we’ve lived, bulldozing the local quirks that made them meaningful to our lives. In the first two sections, the author describes her own experiences; later, she tells the story of the displacement of entire towns in upstate New York at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Accidental Techie: Supporting, Managing, and Maximizing Your Nonprofit’s Technology
Sue Bennett, CompassPoint-Fieldstone Alliance, 2005, 160 pages, $34.95 (paperback). www.FieldstoneAlliance.org

A step-by-step guide to creating a support system that will help your organization use technology more effectively. Includes templates, worksheets and samples to help plan and organize systems.

The Manufactured Home Buyer’s Handbook
Wes Johnson, Mcfarland & Company, 2005, 236 pages, $35.00 (paperback). www.mcfarlandpub.com or 1-800-253-2187

A handbook detailing the steps the consumer must follow when buying a manufactured home, offering advice on choosing a dealership, negotiating with sales people, mortgage options, avoiding common trouble with setup and delivery and home customization. Includes an appendix of state agencies that deal with consumer concerns about manufactured housing.

The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making
Eran Ben-Joseph, MIT Press, 2005, 256 pages, $24.00 (paperback). http://mitpress.mit.edu

The book traces the evolution of urban development codes and standards, examines their effect on city planning and design and proposes alternatives that will encourage innovation. To discover how a separation of codes from local conditions occurred, the author looks at the origins of urban standards and their use, from early civilization through the rapid urbanization of the nineteenth century. According to the author, standards will continue to shape the built environment, but they must be flexible enough to allow for innovation and contribute to the development of sustainable and desirable communities. Extensively illustrated.