Nine-Tenths of the Law: Property and Resistance in the United States

With America’s foreclosure crisis generating a landscape full of empty houses, one can see the rise of an even bigger squatters movement on the horizon. To those engaged in such activity, and those considering it, this book will be a valuable resource. –Seth Tobocman, co-author of Understanding the Crash and Disaster and Resistance

This is the thinking person’s guidebook to urban and suburban squatting. Using her own life, recent news stories, and generations of scholarly work, Dobbz waltzes through the bizarries of the U.S. property system, from the iron logic of property speculation to the madness of arson for profit. Her book tells the hidden histories we badly need to know, from lone wolf opportunists to political activists acting selflessly to house others. We read about the big city stories – from New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco – and navigate the entanglements of the foreclosure crisis, how people remain homeless as homes remain peopleless. For those who aren’t quite ready for off-the-grid outlaw living, Dobbz explains land trusts and co-op ownership, along with the romance (and grime) of collective living. If you’re thinking of squatting – or just want to know more about legal theory of property and home ownership – this book is for you. –Alan W. Moore, author of Art Gangs: Protest and Counterculture in New York City