04983nam 2200937Ia 450 991082691870332120230803024729.01-283-86030-90-520-95342-810.1525/9780520953420(CKB)2670000000299401(EBL)1092954(OCoLC)823387129(SSID)ssj0000782802(PQKBManifestationID)11941913(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000782802(PQKBWorkID)10764552(PQKB)10095565(MiAaPQ)EBC1092954(DE-B1597)520473(OCoLC)1097135199(DE-B1597)9780520953420(Au-PeEL)EBL1092954(CaPaEBR)ebr10631875(CaONFJC)MIL417280(EXLCZ)99267000000029940120120822d2013 ub 0engurnn#---|u||utxtccrBuilding home[electronic resource] Howard F. Ahmanson and the politics of the American dream /Eric John AbrahamsonBerkeley University of California Press20131 online resource (392 p.)Description based upon print version of record.0-520-27375-3 Front matter --Contents --Acknowledgments --Introduction --1. Father as Mentor --2. Among the Lotus Eaters --3. Undertaker at a Plague --4. The Common Experience --5. Building Home --6. Scaling Up --7. Home and the State --8. Political Economy --9. Big Business --10. The Crest of a New Wave --11. Southland Patrician --12. Influence --13. Short of Domestic Bliss --14. Breakdown of Consensus --15. Crisis of the Managed Economy --16. A New Way of Life --17. A Personal Epic --Conclusion --Abbreviations Used in Notes --Notes --IndexBuilding Home is an innovative biography that weaves together three engrossing stories. It is one part corporate and industrial history, using the evolution of mortgage finance as a way to understand larger dynamics in the nation's political economy. It is another part urban history, since the extraordinary success of the savings and loan business in Los Angeles reflects much of the cultural and economic history of Southern California. Finally, it is a personal story, a biography of one of the nation's most successful entrepreneurs of the managed economy -Howard Fieldstad Ahmanson. Eric John Abrahamson deftly connects these three strands as he chronicles Ahmanson's rise against the background of the postwar housing boom and the growth of L.A. during the same period. As a sun-tanned yachtsman and a cigar-smoking financier, the Omaha-born Ahmanson was both unique and representative of many of the business leaders of his era. He did not control a vast infrastructure like a railroad or an electrical utility. Nor did he build his wealth by pulling the financial levers that made possible these great corporate endeavors. Instead, he made a fortune by enabling the middle-class American dream. With his great wealth, he contributed substantially to the expansion of the cultural institutions in L.A. As we struggle to understand the current mortgage-led financial crisis, Ahmanson's life offers powerful insights into an era when the widespread hope of homeownership was just beginning to take shape.Mortgage loansCaliforniaLos AngelesHistory20th centurySavings and loan associationsCaliforniaLos AngelesHistory20th centuryAmerican DreamHistory20th century20th century america.biographical.book club books.books for history lovers.building your own company.california history.chronicles ahmanson.discussion books.entrepreneurship.history of the american dream.history of western united states.history.how to manage a business.how to start a business.howard ahmanson.industrial history.leisure reads.managed economy.political economy.risk management.southern california.success in postwar america.successful entrepreneurs.urban history.vacation books.Mortgage loansHistorySavings and loan associationsHistoryAmerican DreamHistory332.3/2092BHIS036140bisacshAbrahamson Eric John573012MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910826918703321Building home4002027UNINA