REVIEWS

"Jim DeLong has written a judicious, fair-minded balanced book that kicks the hell out of the enemies of property rights."

James Bovard, Author of Shakedown: How the Government Screws You From A to Z

"With stinging wit, James DeLong documents the outrageous war against property owners being waged by arrogant bureaucrats and their special interest group allies. He convincingly argues that this wide-ranging attack is of deep concern to all of us; not just to farmers and loggers, but to suburban homeowners, conservationists, and computer programmers alike. PROPERTY MATTERS is both a cautionary tale of government run amok and a bold call to action."

David McIntosh, R-IN, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Natural Resources, and Regulatory Affairs

"Assertively, but not dogmatically, James DeLong takes his readers through the regulatory minefields that stand in the way of owners of private property. With a keen eye toward institutional detail, he explores the philosophical, economic, and constitutional justifications for private property. Ranging from endangered species to intellectual property, he tries to draw sensible lines between private choice and public regulation. His clear and incisive prose reduces the cost of understanding government activities. PROPERTY MATTERS should help create an informed citizenry that in turn will place increased pressure on government officials to mend their ways and rein in their excessive ambitions."

Richard Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

"Property is one of the foundation stones of a civil society. DeLong documents how the erosion of rights to use one's property, usually in the name of some greater good, has undermined both the civility and efficiency of modern life. He writes with a fine pen and a disciplined outrage."

William A. Niskanen, Chairnman, Cato Institute

"Private property rights are necessary to maintain a free society. Jim DeLong succinctly points this out in his highly readable, persuasive book."

Nancie G. Marzulla, President and Chief Legal Counsel, Defenders of Property Rights

WALL STREET JOURNAL, April 2, 1997:
"Today its routine to read of a landowner denied permission to build a house, lay down a gravel path or rebuild an embankement. Much of rural America is in open revolt against the laws that require such permissions. Yet environmental spokesmen still profess to believe that developers are just pulling strings to stimulate discontent. 'To this day,' writes James V. DeLong, 'neither environmentaltists nor government officials seem to understand the anger of the landowners.'
"They'll have a better clue if they read "Property Matters . . . ." Mr. DeLong . . . aims to persuade his word-pushing neighbors that we all share a stake in safeguarding property against arbitrary confiscation, even if we hold assets in less earthbound forms, such as pensions, condos, and copyrights.
". . . .
"A skilled explainer, Mr. DeLong sets himself a handicap by putting much of his drier material into his first 100 pages. . . . . though [these sections are] packed with valuable information and analysis.
"Having to pay for takings, suggests the author, imposes both a pragmatic and a moral discipline on those who wield power. . . . . 'The pro-property forces should stand firmly where they belong, on the moral high ground.'
-- Walter Olson

WORLD, May 3/10, 1997: "Vitally important is Property Matters . . . . As DeLong explains: 'If a society does not get its priorities right in the context of land, it is not likely to get them right for other forms of property as well.' "
-- Doug Bandow

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, December 30, 1996: "Distinguished by its thoroughgoing analysis and levelheaded tone . . . . "

REASON, May 1997:
"Professionally written and edited book-length treatments of the contemporary property rights controversy -- volumes that lay readers can find in better bookstores alongside other mass-market nonfiction works about current issues -- haven't existed. Until now.
" While intended for slightly different audiences, Property Matters by Washington attorney James V. DeLong and This Land Is Our Land, by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) and veteran conservative writer Joseph Farah, are accessible, useful primers for readers who want to know why a grassroots property rights movement has emerged and why it has assumed a warlike footing.
" . . . .
"Rather than offer sustenance to beleagured fellow travelers, DeLong instead tries to win over skeptics and potential opponents. The result is a book that's engaging, well-argued, and openly cognizant of the complexities of politics and the law. DeLong goes beyond the familiar areas of wetlands, endangered species, and grazing to incorporate historical preservation, zoning, and even intellectual property in his discussion.
" . . . DeLong offers a valuable chapter on political legitimacy in the Lockean tradition, which approximates the American constitutional system of limited government, individual rights, and federalism.
. . . . He also discusses the "unwritten" American constitution, a set of loosely defined principles that, when followed by elected officials and other government employees, give citizens a general feeling of trust about our public institutions. . . . . Over the past 30 years or so, he argues, governing bodies and public officials have overstepped their written boundaries and the "unwritten constitution." As a consequence, faith in government to exercise any authority legitimately has been undermined.
" DeLong maintains his healthy skepticism of plebiscites and other political mechanisms throughout the book, making a refreshing change from the horror-story-followed-by-outrage format so many other books about overreaching government policies seem to feature. And DeLong's chapters on water policy, the West, and zoning are full of surprising insights. . . . . In particular, he takes a revisionist view of the Tellico Dam. . . . . Nor is DeLong a reflexive opponent of every zoning, land-use planning, and environmental regulation in urban setting.
". . . . . DeLong concludes that property rights supporters must rehabilitate the Lockean vision with the general public and with the mainstream media, or else the peasants will take up their pitchforks. . . . . Property Matters is a valuable addition to the popular literature on political economy, with insights that go beyond today's property rights debates."
-- Rick Henderson

WASHINGTON TIMES, April 5, 1997: "A somber but useful primer on the state of property rights today. . . . There is a message in this book for everyone . . . ."
-- Kenneth Smith

PRESERVATION (The Magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation), May/June 1997:
"James V. DeLong . . . offers an enthusiasts tour of unsolved and possibly insoluble ownership riddles, involving everything from wetlands to zoning, mining rights to artists' rights. . . . . The author's target is generic over-regulation, and he can chronicle an America of 'nice ideas run riot' with first-person, scenery-chewing gusto.'
"A veteran of the regulatory industry, . . . DeLong is also associated with the libertarian Cato Institute, and it shows. . . . .
"Property Matters is . . . an extremely useful introduction to the major arguments behind the still potent Wise Use and property rights movements and to a powerful antigovernment mindset . . . The author gives these simmering minority resentments an intellectual gloss . . . . DeLong has absorbed enough Pat Buchanan and P.J.O'Rourke to flail with flair. Those who scorn Aldo Leopold's claim that learning to think like a mountain is better than leveling one will cheer every rhetorical swipe and logical trap. And those who see property law as a conversation we hold with the natural world should read DeLong, too. Call it defensive driving."
-- Anne Matthews

JUST COMPENSATION, April 1997: "We recommend Property Matters . . . . This is not a legal book. Written for the intelligent layman, it examines the institution of property from a historical, philosophical and pragmatic perspectives. Just Compensation readers will find of interest its lively review of inverse condemnation developments. It features descriptions of numerous controversies over property rights, and of conflicts between property owners and regulators."
-- Gideon Kanner

KIRKUS REVIEWS, January 1, 1997: A . . . penetrating brief against . . . a broad-gauge campaign against the very notion of private property in America. . . . DeLong offers an occasionally lawyerly but consistently engrossing primer on property (including intellectual property), stressing that people have certain inalienable rights. He also addresses the tricky issue of political legitimacy and the guarantees afforded by the Bill of Rights, . . . . . He documents how expansive administrative and judicial interpretations of the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws have eroded these assurances in recent years; at the local and state levels, he shows, historic-preservation, land use, and zoning statutes can prove equally confiscatory. Covered as well are the still evolving ground rules governing the rights of the American West's populace to indigenous minerals, pasturage, timber, and water, now threatened by the vocal preference of affluent urban backpackers for unspoiled wilderness. DeLong warns that unrequited expropriations in the name of imperiled fauna and flora threaten the very freedoms that underlie our political system. In his concluding chapter, he provides some uncommonly sensible suggestions on ways to stem the statist tide that, if unchecked, could swamp property rights.