1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller • Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted reinvents the poverty debate, offering a "provocative and compelling" argument (NPR) on why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.
BEST BOOKS 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 Read , Library Journal
“Urgent and accessible. . . His moral strength packs a real punch.»—The New Yorker
Shortlisted for the Inc. Unclear Book Award. • Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal
The United States, the richest country on the planet, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. For what? Why does this wealthy country allow one in eight children to go without basic necessities, let dozens of its citizens live and die on the streets, and allow its businesses to pay Poor salary?
In this landmark book, renowned sociologist Matthew Desmond uses history, research, and original reporting to show how wealthy Americans intentionally or unintentionally keep poor people poor. any.Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, lowering their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize subsidizing wealth over reducing poverty, designing a welfare state that delivers the most benefits to those who need it least. And we hoard opportunities in exclusive communities, creating areas of concentration of wealth alongside areas of concentration of despair. Some lives are reduced so that others can flourish.
Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book offers us new ways of thinking about a pressing moral issue.It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond presents a unique and ambitious argument for poverty reduction. He called us all to be anti-poverty, committed to a collective politics that would usher in a new era of shared prosperity and, ultimately, true freedom.
