Poverty, by America
- Author Matthew Desmond
- Narrator Dion Graham
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Run Time 5 hours and 41 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Housing and homelessness, Poverty and precarity, Reportage, journalism or collected columns, Social classes, Social discrimination and equal treatment.
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
The United States is the richest country on earth, yet has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. One in seven Americans live below the poverty line, a line which hasn't shifted over the last fifty years, despite the efforts of successive governments and extensive relief programs. Why is there so much scarcity in this land of dollars?
In Poverty, by America, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond examines the nature of American poverty today and the stories we tell ourselves about it. Spanning racism, social isolation, mass incarceration, the housing crisis, domestic violence, crack and opioid epidemics, welfare cuts and more, Desmond argues that poverty does not result from a lack of resources or good policy ideas. We already know how to eliminate it. The hard part is getting more of us to care.
To do so, we need a new story. As things stand, liberals explain poverty through insurmountable structural issues, whereas conservatives highlight personal failings and poor life choices. Both analyses abdicate responsibility, and ignore the reality that the advantages of the rich only come at the expense of the poor. It is time better-paid citizens put themselves back in the narrative, recognizing that the depth and expanse of poverty in any nation reflects our failure to look out for one another. Poverty must ultimately be met by community: all this suffering and want is our doing, and we can undo it.
© Matthew Desmond 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Critics Review
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Urgent and accessible … It’s refreshing to read a work of social criticism that eschews the easy and often smug allure of abstraction, in favor of plainspoken practicality. Its moral force is a gut punch.
The New Yorker -
[Desmond’s] arguments have the potential to push debate about wealth in America to a new level … The brilliance of Poverty, By America lies in Desmond’s account of how government and social policy act in ways commensurate with his class-war thesis. Its texture is provided by effective storytelling, which illustrates that poverty has become a way of life.
The Guardian -
A fierce polemic on an enduring problem … [Desmond] writes movingly about the psychological scars of poverty … and his prose can be crisp, elegant, and elegiac.
The Economist -
Desmond’s electrifying pen cuts through the usual evasions and exposes the ‘selfish,’ ‘dishonest’ and ‘sinful’ pretence that poverty is a problem that America cannot afford to fix, rather than one it chooses not to.
Prospect -
Short, smart, and thrilling. The thrill comes from the sheer boldness of Desmond’s argument and his carefully modulated but very real tone of outrage that underlies his words.
Rolling Stone -
[T]hrough in-depth research and original reporting, the acclaimed sociologist offers solutions that would help spread America’s wealth and make everyone more prosperous.
Time
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