"Housing the City by the Bay takes a deeper look at the twentieth-century history of housing—first, the failures of private markets to meet the needs of working people, and then the New Deal intervention in the wake of the Depression, catalyzing a broad expansion of public housing. Combining the half century rise and fall of public housing with the unprecedented inflation of housing prices engendered by the Bay Area tech boom at the dawn of the twenty-first century, John Baranski reveals a Bay Area riven by sharp class divisions, and disarmed before the tidal wave of private interests determined to undermine any efforts to reclaim the basic human right to decent, inexpensive, high quality shelter."—Chris Carlsson, Co-Director of Shaping San Francisco

"Housing the City by the Bay makes an original contribution to U.S. national political history and California social and urban history. John Baranski provides a sophisticated analysis of the complex ways that housing policy relates to the century long debate between liberals and their critics over how to define and implement citizenship rights."—Bill Issel, San Francisco State University

"John Baranski's scholarship devastates the 'There Is No Alternative' myth when it comes to for-profit housing and the built environment. Through meticulous research and sharp historical grounding, he shows us the paths that led to the national housing crisis. Housing the City By the Bay lays bare the race and class antagonisms in a liberal city such as San Francisco. It serves as a cautionary tale and a call to action, and makes a monumental contribution to the national discussion around housing and neighborhoods."—James Tracy, author of Dispatches Against Displacement: Field Notes from San Francisco's Housing Wars

"Anyone wishing to understand the conjoined crises of astronomical housing costs and the legions of homeless in San Francisco must read John Baranski's book, for it gives essential context usually absent from the everyday barbarism now manifest on that city's streets. Baranski reveals a century-long tug-of-war between advocates of housing as a human right and victorious champions of the marketplace. San Francisco's story is that of every American city, only more so."—Gray Brechin, author of Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
"[Housing the City by the Bay] adds an important contribution to the debate over public housing....Baranski does an amazing job of documenting this history in San Francisco."—Pablo Gonzales, Journal of American Ethnic History

"[Housing the City by the Bay] is an excellent addition to the growing literature on the history of public housing in the United States. John Baranski is especially adept at connecting San Francisco's public housing history to national political history."—Joseph A. Rodriguez, Pacific Historical Review

John Baranski is Assistant Professor of History at El Camino College.