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Yoni Appelbaum

@yappelbaum.bsky.social
34K followers 55 following 95 posts

Deputy Executive Editor, The Atlantic. Author of "Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity." www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/70…

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Hoiyin Ip @hoiyinip.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Choosing where to live is likely the single most consequential decision you’ll make while bringing up your kids—more than what they eat or what they wear or how much screen time they get -Stuck:How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity by @yappelbaum.bsky.social
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Jonathan Freedland @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
For the 250th anniversary, the Latest Politics Weekly America is a conversation with @yappelbaum.bsky.social on how the US remembers its own history: what stories get told and what gets forgotten open.spotify.com/episode/25Kw...
open.spotify.com
Trump hijacks America at 250 celebrations
Politics Weekly America · Episode
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
From our July issue: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
How to Tell the American Story
Finding a common history that’s both unsparing and unifying has proved all but impossible in recent years. It shouldn’t be.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Really enjoyed this conversation!
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 20/05/2026
The Atlantic congratulates our staff writer @matteowong.bsky.social for winning an ASME NEXT Award for Journalists Under 30. You can find his work here: theatln.tc/cemLUEPg
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 20/05/2026
Ben Hickey has won the National Magazine Award for Best Still and Animated Illustration for his work on “America’s Mad King,” by Peter Wehner. See the art and read the story: theatln.tc/KTXr5P3P
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 20/05/2026
The Atlantic has won the 2026 National Magazine Award for Single-Topic Issue for “The Unfinished Revolution.” Explore the issue here: theatln.tc/jdKNXM3B
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Shane Phillips @shanedphillips.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Part 2 of our book club on Stuck is out today, with Giselle Hale of Abundance Network as our guest. This one was a lot of fun, covering some of the most interesting chapters of the book (IMO). Last episode with @yappelbaum.bsky.social is in two weeks! lewis.ucla.edu/2026/05/18/1...
lewis.ucla.edu
Episode 114: ‘Stuck’ Book Club pt. 2 with Giselle Hale - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Part 2 of our book club series on Yoni Appelbaum's 'Stuck', covering chapters 5–8. We're joined by Giselle Hale of the Abundance Network.
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Shane Phillips @shanedphillips.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
We're very excited to (finally) share the first entry in our three-part series on Yoni Appelbaum's book, Stuck. @stano.bsky.social is my co-host, and our guest for this episode is California Attorney General @robbonta.bsky.social to talk housing immigration law. lewis.ucla.edu/2026/05/04/1...
lewis.ucla.edu
Episode 112: 'Stuck' Book Club pt. 1 with Attorney General Rob Bonta - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Part 1 of our book club series on Yoni Appelbaum's 'Stuck', covering chapters 1-4. We're joined by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Grateful to @velshi.com for devoting a segment of this length and sophistication to the message of "Stuck" www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0UQ...
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Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
If you don’t know the story of Hang Kie and Modesto’s legalization of racial segregation through the racially neutral mechanism of zoning, it’s one of the great untold American civil rights stories.
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Vague Pariah @vaguepariah.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
The American Dream has always been widespread access to opportunity. Without plentiful housing in high opportunity cities, the American Dream dies.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
1. Take a look at this chart. That black line? Technically, it's the decline in the percentage of Americans who move each year—from about one in five to less than one in thirteen. But it's more than that. You're looking at the decline of the American dream.
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The NHP Foundation @nhpfoundation.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
#Stuck by @YoniApplebaum important book that examines, among other things, #affordablehousing via how the privileged and the propertied broke the engine of American opportunity - out in paperback this month. news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025…
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 01/02/2026
“The Gilded Age saw an eruption of scandal and corruption that accompanied and even enabled the transformation of the American economy alongside explosive changes in technology,” Walter Russell Mead argues. “Trump’s Washington looks like the Gilded Age on steroids.”
bit.ly
The Rise of the Tech Hamiltonians
The political coalition that has formed under Trump’s banner has the potential to reshape American politics.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
NEW: “I mean, is this a Fort Sumter?” Tim Walz asked @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social today. “It’s a physical assault,” Walz told him. “It’s an armed force that’s assaulting, that’s killing my constituents, my citizens.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
BREAKING: The Border Patrol's Greg Bovino has been ousted from his role of "Commander at Large"—and Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski could be next to lose their jobs, sources tell @nickmiroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
I gave you guys a whole year to solve America's mobility crisis—restoring the chance for Americans to pursue opportunity and choose their own communities—but you've left me with no choice but to publish "Stuck" in paperback.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Can money buy a president love? Trump seems determined to find out, perhaps as early as tonight: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
theatlantic.com
$1,776 Checks for the Military
The president is considering bonuses for many service members.
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Zalman Rothschild @zalmanr.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Something I wrote. @theatlantic.com @yappelbaum.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
theatlantic.com
My Murdered Friend Eli
He was killed doing the work he’d dreamed of.
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
I love this essay.
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The Alexandria Brief @alexandriabrief.com · 08/12/2025
Reminder: Mayor Alyia Gaskins will join journalist and author Yoni Appelbaum for a public forum on housing affordability and zoning reform tonight at the Lyceum.
alexandriabrief.com
Mayor Gaskins, Atlantic editor to discuss housing affordability at Lyceum
Free event to explore zoning, discrimination and housing policy
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
"The Pentagon’s top watchdog has concluded that the information Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared in the chat could have put the mission, U.S. personnel, and national security at risk had it fallen into the wrong hands." Detailed, exclusive reporting: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
theatlantic.com
Hegseth Risked Endangering Troops With Signal Messages
An inspector general report finds that the defense secretary violated his department’s policies.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
There's something uniquely satisfying about kind words from a writer whose own books you've enjoyed. Thanks to @vermontgmg.bsky.social for including me on this list: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/my-favorit...
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Torr (I moved to Threads) @torrleonard.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Related: This is a great section from the book “Stuck” about how new homes kept getting new features at breakneck speed, and they all *made life easier*:
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Alex Goyette @alexgoyette.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
👀 @alyia4alx.com and @yappelbaum.bsky.social will discuss Zoning for Justice and Affordability, hosted by @homeofva.bsky.social at the Lyceum in Old Town Mon. 12/8, 6:30 - 8:00pm Event is free but space is limited: homeofva.org/events/lets-...
homeofva.org
Let's Talk About Housing: Zoning for Justice and Affordability - HOME of VA
We'll examine how exclusionary zoning laws artificially constrain housing supply, driving up costs and perpetuatingsegregation. Our panel, including Yoni Applebaum, journalist and deputy executive edi...
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
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Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
law and order: sandwich crimes unit www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
Law and Order: Sandwich Crimes Unit
Serving justice to sandwich-wielding offenders takes expertise.
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Shane Phillips @shanedphillips.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
We published our 100th episode! Listen for some fun lore about the Housing Voice hosts, answers to listener questions, and the announcement that we'll be reading Stuck for our first book club, with author Yoni Appelbaum joining us for the last episode in that short series.
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Addison Del Mastro @ad-mastro.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
"Some of the critics seems to view the artificial costs of mobility as an argument against mobility, when removing those artificial costs is the whole point of the book." Further thoughts on @yappelbaum.bsky.social's "Stuck," and against localism as an ideology:
thedeletedscenes.substack.com
Localism Must Not Be an Ideology of Soil
A critique of the localist critique of Yoni Appelbaum’s “Stuck”
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Russell Richie 🔰🌐🏗🚲♿🏳️‍🌈 @drussellmrichie.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
One of the most interesting things in @yappelbaum.bsky.social's Stuck, is the idea that people join groups most when they can live where they want.
Text from the book.

The resurgence of mobility revived other aspects of American life that had fallen off during the Great Depression. People sought out churches and clubs and lodges as they tried to construct community in their new surroundings. Between 1940 and 1945, rates of membership in American voluntary associations saw their largest recorded surge. Church membership ticked up, too. Just as the golden age of American voluntary associations in the late nineteenth century had been driven by the remarkable number of Americans moving from one place to another, its revival in the postwar decades was, too. Despite becoming sharply more likely to be living next to new neighbors, and to have moved to an unfamiliar place themselves, Americans expressed more trust in each other and more faith in institutions than they had during the immobile years of the Great Depression.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
NEW: Kamala Harris passed on her top choice for a running mate—Pete Buttigieg—because it would've been “too big of a risk” for a Black woman to run with a gay man, she writes in her book, @jonlemire.bsky.social reports: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
The Running Mate Kamala Harris Didn’t Dare Choose
“I love Pete,” she writes in her new book. But picking a gay man would have been too risky.
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Josh Linden @joshlinden.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Many of our land use / building codes are rooted in exclusion + prejudice, even if they are facially anodyne and widely accepted as common sense today Case in point: early 1900 fire safety reforms were primarily designed to ⬆️ the cost of tenements / MF apts (old and new) to reduce immigration
From Stuck: "If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction; if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even when there are only three families; if we require fire-escapes and a host of other things," then, he continued, each of the rules could stand up in court, "and at the same time we have made it difficult to build apartment homes."From Stuck: But although some champions of tenement reform were earnest in their efforts, no one who had paid the slightest attention to the movement could have any doubt as to the actual aims of many reformers. The influx of immigrants to New York City was the problem; eliminating affordable housing was the solution.From Stuck: Veiller, instead, did everything in his power to make housing more expensive. Immigrants continued to pour into the city in the years immediately after the passage of the Tenement Act, but newly constructed tenements became increasingly unaffordable. The cost of making the improvements to old-law tenements mandated by the law, and increasing competition for the remaining affordable units, combined to drive up prices, setting off rent strikes in 1904 and 1907. "The fact is that the new-law tenements ... are beyond the reach of unskilled wage earners," one reformer complained in 1919.
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Jonathan Levine @jnthnlvn.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Strongly recommended for pro-housing people (and even more for people who aren't yet on board): Appelbaum, Yoni. Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Random House, 2025. Moving exerpt attached. #a2council
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Torr (I moved to Threads) @torrleonard.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
"When the Dust Bowl set off an exodus out of the Great Plains, 300k migrants showed up in California, a place seen as the land of opportunity. The welcome was not warm." This was talked about a bit in the book "Stuck" by @yappelbaum.bsky.social:
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Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
From Stuck! by @yappelbaum.bsky.social, some great history on U.S. building codes and Lawrence Veiller's work on tenement laws:
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
1. In the decades before Prohibition, many municipalities experimented with license-laws, regulating the sale of alcohol. Such licenses swiftly became the most valuable things dispensed by government, with profoundly distorting consequences.
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Torr (I moved to Threads) @torrleonard.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
You will never think of Jane Jacobs the same way again after reading this book: bsky.app/profile/torr...
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
10/10, no notes
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Sounds like a big problem! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/700580...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Stuck by Yoni Appelbaum: 9780593449295 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
How did America cease to be the land of opportunity? We take it for granted that good neighborhoods—with good schools and good housing—are only accessible to the wealthy. But in America, this...
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Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
We used to be a country, a proper country
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
"On its own accord, Grok dug up the demographics of previous winners of Nobel Prizes in the sciences—disproportionately white men—and determined a set of “good_races”: white, caucasian, Asian, East Asian, South Asian, and Jewish."
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Danny Crichton @dannycrichton.com · 09/07/2025
I talk to Yoni Appelbaum on declining mobility and the future of American economic growth, how the abundance movement is changing the tenor of this debate, and some solutions on how to help Americans live where they want and build a more prosperous future: riskgaming.substack.com/p/how-jane-...
riskgaming.com
How Jane Jacobs got Americans stuck
Yoni Appelbaum on the real villians behind our housing and mobility problems
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Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
NEW: Culture war, with real troops. What I saw during three days in downtown LA www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
Stephen Miller Triggers Los Angeles
The protesters gathered in downtown L.A. are a microcosm of the Democratic coalition that has dominated the city for decades.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
The most important graph you'll see today. As large blue-state metros choked off growth with zoning, red-state metros kept building cheap suburban housing. But now, that's changed, as homeowners in those states have mastered the art of blocking development, too. The result? Prices are spiking.
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Helen Lewis @helenlewis.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
With happy timing, here comes my book extract -- on why having a high IQ can make you an outsider, rather than a genius. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
theatlantic.com
A High IQ Makes You an Outsider, Not a Genius
Acing an intelligence test only counts for so much.
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Senator Analise Ortiz @senanaliseortiz.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Sunday read: How has zoning historically been used to segregate cities? 1885 Modesto, CA made it illegal to operate laundromats in certain areas for one racist reason. We can’t discuss zoning bills, like the AZ Starter Homes Act, without acknowledging this history. ℹ️: Stuck by Yoni Appelbaum
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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 14/05/2025
The housing market now dictates settlement patterns, rather than following from them. Americans move to find housing they can afford, not to seek economic opportunity. Does it really have to be that way? @ad-mastro.bsky.social reviews @yappelbaum.bsky.social's "Stuck":
thebulwark.com
Can America Get Unstuck?
We used to be more dynamic, more mobile, and more energetic. It’s not clear if we can be again.
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Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
"Appelbaum very probably represents the Democratic future. He can bring in libertarians and capitalists with his YIMBY economic policies...but he keeps the coastal activist base happy by including just a touch of racial identity politics and a whiff of lavender identitarianism."
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Sinners is a horror film in which almost all of the key events are driven by the constraints of the Jim Crow economy (spoilery) www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
theatlantic.com
The Real Horror of 'Sinners' Isn’t Supernatural
The constraints of the Jim Crow economy drive every event in the film.
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