Zócalo Public Square

From the invention of the suburb to the birth of Home and Garden Television, homeownership has long been a central part of the American dream. Americans build ballooning mansions, hunt for hidden architectural gems, drop thousands of dollars per square foot of urban condo or seaside shack, endlessly renovate fixer-uppers, and carefully outfit interiors. Why are we so desperate to own? Meghan Daum, author of Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House, visits Zócalo to recount her search for a place to call home and to explain the pleasures and perils of believing that only a house can make you whole.