Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a provocative and compelling (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Oprah Daily, Time, The Star Tribune, Vulture, The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Public Library, Esquire, California Review of Books, She Reads, Library Journal

Urgent and accessible . . . Its moral force is a gut punch.--The New Yorker

Longlisted for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award - Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?

In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.

Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom.

MATTHEW DESMOND is a co-director of the Justice and Poverty Initiative and an associate professor of sociology and social sciences at Harvard University. Contributors: Matthew Desmond, Holly Foster, John Hagan, David J. Claire W. Harding, Claire W. Harding, Claire W. Harding, Claire Jeffrey D. Herbert Bryan L. Morenoff, Becky Pettit, Laurence Ralph, Morenoff, Becky Pettit Bruce Sykes is a Western author.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780593239919
ISBN 10	0593239911
Title	Poverty, by America
Author	Matthew Desmond
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2023-03-21
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.