"A young historians superlative debutthis excellent book delivers the truth about the burning years." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) "This outstanding book will change everything that we think we know about what happened to American cities in the late twentieth century. A masterpiece of history." -- Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership "Reading like a detective novel, Born in Flames is a devastating account of how the global insurance industry, property owners, and the federal government were the real arsonists, turning creative destruction of black and brown neighborhoods into profit and spectacle. By seeing the world through the Bronx, Bench Ansfield upends conventional narratives of the 1970s, capitalisms global crisis, protest politics, even the origins of hip hop. Destined to become a classic." -- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class "Bench Ansfield exposes how the insurance industry, along with the federal government, collaborated and knowingly pushed my Bronx community further into poverty, despair, housing insecurity, and even death through the burning of the 1970s BronxHaving lived through the fires, I commend Ansfields dedication to excavating the truth behind systemic racism. I am profoundly grateful to them for redeeming the generations that suffered through the firestorm" -- Vivian Vįzquez Irizarry, director and producer of Decade of Fire "Racial inequality persists because it was insured. In this beautifully written work, Bench Ansfield is the first to uncover crucial links between the 1970s wave of urban arson and the subsequent rise of finance in the United States. One of the very few essential books on the recent history of racial capitalism in the United States, and a revelatory and unusually creative history of race and risk." -- Jonathan Levy, author of Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States "Born in Flames tells a gripping story of how our cities came to beby way of power, capital, and fire. In this expansive account of the arson wave, Bench Ansfield gives us a diligent history lesson, but also a provocation about our current conditions, highlighting what we have yet to learn from the episodes detailed in the book. This book does what so many neglect, introducing the reader to not just the policies and power brokers, but also to the regular people of the Bronx, who revolted against the profiteers who conspired to burn their homes." -- Tara Raghuveer, founding director, Tenant Union Federation and KC Tenants "Born in Flames shatters the myth that Bronx residents burned their own neighborhoods in the 1970s. Bench Ansfield reveals how a 60s-era privatized fire insurance reform policy redlining in disguisefueled mass-scale landlord abandonment and arson for profit during a decade of financial crisis, not just in the Bronx but nationwide. Amid the devastation, residents led one of the largest urban rebuilding efforts in U.S. history. Elegantly written and deeply researched, this groundbreaking history lays bare the roots of todays housing crisis." -- Johanna Fernįndez, author of The Young Lords: A Radical History "Born in Flames is a searing and incisive exploration of the intersection of race, capitalism, and urban devastation in the late 20th century. Bench Ansfield masterfully unearths the hidden histories of landlord arson and the financialization of urban space, illuminating how racial capitalism set fire to American cities. Challenging conventional narratives of urban decline, Ansfield offers a profound analysis of the way policies meant to rectify inequalities instead deepened them, and how marginalized communities fought back against the destruction. A vital contribution to understanding how the fires of the past continue to shape the injustices of the present." -- Elizabeth Hinton, author of America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960 "Bench Ansfield has written an extraordinary history of the American city in the late twentieth century. Beautifully written and drawing on meticulous archival work, Born in Flames illuminates the economic and social logic that has led to the emergencies of our time." -- Kim Phillips-Fein, author of Fear City: New Yorks Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics
