--- title: Golden Gates: 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 description: Find out why Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-11-10T21:28:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:45:07.136Z og:title: 'Golden Gates' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt181796561f482fa1/698a13ff011682317898004b/best-books-2020-Golden-Gates.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Golden Gates' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Golden Gates' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt181796561f482fa1/698a13ff011682317898004b/best-books-2020-Golden-Gates.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 10, 2020 # Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  How can a city with so much prosperity see so many of its citizens struggle with homelessness? That is what Conor Dougherty seeks to answer in his striking book about the history and politics of the dire housing shortage in San Francisco. The journalist nimbly, and with significant humanity, covers a lot of ground: decades-old legislation and economic trends; dueling factions of contemporary progressives; activists with various targets and tactics; and a California state senator with a bill which Dougherty believes could provide a long-needed solution, but has failed for three years in a row. **Buy Now:** _Golden Gates_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780525560210) | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525560211/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525560211&linkId=acb96e1ddb11d0fab854283ac3be4574) These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/"},"headline":"'Golden Gates' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-10T21:28:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:45:07.136Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt181796561f482fa1/698a13ff011682317898004b/best-books-2020-Golden-Gates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt181796561f482fa1/698a13ff011682317898004b/best-books-2020-Golden-Gates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904277/golden-gates/","name":"'Golden Gates' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```