"Twenty years after the Supreme Court's Kelo decision, localities' use of eminent domain in urban redevelopment remains highly controversial. Francine Romero's deeply researched and well-balanced review of the background of this case, the arguments of each side, and the reasoning of the courts, is essential reading for those who care about cities and want a better understanding of the challenges they face when trying to reinvent themselves."-- Stephen J. K. Walters , author of Boom Towns: Restoring the Urban American Dream "An engaging account of one indomitable small city's tumultuous turn on the national stage, with a welcome focus on the local. The book deftly weaves legal scholarship with historical narrative to present events and issues in their full 'no easy lessons' complexity."-- Anna Vallye , editor of Urban Renewal and Highway Construction in New London, 1941-1975 "The Supreme Court's Kelo decision in 2005, resulting in the bulldozing of an entire neighborhood to make way for a fancy new development project that never materialized, outraged Americans of every political stripe. Frances Romero's fine new book, revisiting the controversial 5-4 ruling 20 years later, lays out the complex legal issues as well as the heartbreaking human issues.

It's the no-win story of a dying New England city trying desperately to reinvent itself economically versus homeowners of modest means who wanted only to stay where they were in the neighborhood they loved."-- Charlotte Allen , author of The Weekly Standard article "'Kelo' Revisited" "Francine Romero's new book is a valuable and insightful account of the Kelo case, and the ongoing debate it has generated, which continues more than twenty years after the Supreme Court decision. It should be of great interest to both experts and interested laypeople."-- Ilya Somin , George Mason University, author of The Grasping Hand: "Kelo v. City of New London" and the Limits of Eminent Domain " Kelo v. New London was a rare United States Supreme Court decision that sent shock waves through American society. In Not for Sale , Francine Romero tells an engrossing tale of how the fate of one little pink house engaged the nation in an epic battle over how to define the public interest--whether as the responsibility to do anything to redevelop an economically struggling city or instead, to safeguard the unassailable property rights of a homeowner. This is the best treatment of the ongoing controversy over eminent domain that I have ever read.

"-- Lizabeth Cohen , author of Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age.