Poverty went largely unnoticed by the American public before the 1962 publication of Michael Harrington’s The Other America. The book captured the attention of the Kennedy administration and likely influenced the thinking that led to Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Since then, sociologists and politicians alike have grappled with the stubborn persistence of conditions that condemn millions to the margins of existence yet seem impervious to government intervention. Below is a list of twelve illuminating books on poverty in America published in recent years. They are arranged alphabetically by the surnames of the authors. each is linked to my review.
This post was updated on February 2, 2021.
You are reading: Books on poverty in america
the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by michelle alexander—the new jim crow: reexamining mass incarceration in the united states
prof. alexander explains how the nation’s criminal justice system has been distorted beyond recognition by a series of presidential actions, congressional legislation, and supreme court decisions, as well as the catastrophic consequences of this sequence of events for our cities , our African countries. -American and Latino communities, and ultimately all of us. read the review.
Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches From America’s Class Warby joe bageant, on the front lines of America’s class war
bageant writes of “business class, that legion of little rotary plugs. . . vital to the American corporate and political machine. they are where the institutionalized swindling of the working class by wealthy corporations finds its footing at the grassroots level. . . they are so far to the right that they wouldn’t even eat the left wing of a chicken.” read the review.
99 to 1: how wealth inequality is ruining the world and what we can do about it by chuck collins—wealth inequality: how the 99% can fight back
The former CEO of United for a Fair Economy lucidly highlights the terrible price we all pay for the huge imbalance in wealth between the haves and have-nots today. he draws a parallel between the golden age of the 1890s through the 1920s and the current era, beginning in the late 1970s, both periods in which the wealth disparity grew to unprecedented proportions. read the review.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American CityBy Matthew Desmond: Does the Profit Motive Cause Homelessness?
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This is one of the most illuminating books on poverty I’ve read in recent years. During 18 months in the field, the author followed the lives of several Milwaukee families, both black and white, before, during, and after his experience with eviction. Simultaneously, he tracked the work of two owners, one with thirty-six poorly maintained units on ghetto properties and another who owns a dilapidated mobile home park containing 131 dilapidated trailers. read the review.
golden gates: fighting for housing in america by conor dougherty: why are there so many homeless people in america?
Walk around almost any major American city long enough and you run the risk of tripping over some homeless person lying on the sidewalk. the problem has been brewing for half a century, but has gotten much, much worse over the last decade. And nowhere is it more serious than in the metropolitan cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco in California. Here, writing from Berkeley, across the bay from San Francisco, you are likely to hear one of several explanations for how things have gotten so bad. But if you want to know how to sort through the myths and misconceptions about housing and homelessness in the United States, a great place to start is Conor Dougherty’s extraordinary new book, Golden Gates. read the review.
Falling behind: how rising inequality hurts the middle class, by robert h. frank—robert frank examines income inequality and the tragedy of the commons
Frank goes far beyond the superficial coverage of income inequality in much of the media, which is largely limited to dramatizing how far and fast the gap between the haves and have-nots has grown. explains how income inequality forces low- and middle-income people to spend more than they can afford on housing, clothing, and sometimes even food, and how policies that foster inequality burden society with transportation inadequate public, polluted air and water, dilapidated infrastructure. , and other frequently neglected problems. read the review.
janesville: an american history by amy goldstein: janesville book review: the human cost of the great recession
goldstein frames his revealing new book as an american history. Following the fate of half a dozen families in Janesville, Wisconsin, Goldstein dramatizes the impact of the Great Recession of 2008 in the years after a major Chevrolet factory closed. She eloquently shows that the pain she inflicted on the people of Janesville has lasted to this day. this is, in fact, an American story. read the review.
Tightrope: Americans Looking for Hope by Nicholas D. kristof and sheryl wudunn: a hopeful message about poverty in america by nick kristof and sheryl wudunn
walking the tightrope, kristof and wudunn walk America’s back roads, studying private and local programs, often run by philanthropists, to address the problems they see. and find much hope in what they find. however, the roots of those problems lie in the wrong turn the federal government has taken over the last half century. instead, they advocate a series of progressive reforms. read the review.
taxing the poor: hurting the truly disadvantaged by katherine s. newman and rourke l. o’brien—poverty in america: why the poor are getting poorer
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Students of poverty in America have sought its roots in many areas, including racism, culture, genetics, personal responsibility, and social policy. taxes, by contrast, have received little attention. Newman and O’Brien respond to this oversight with an illuminating study of how fiscal policy in the South has contributed significantly to endemic poverty in the region on both sides of the color line. read the review.
saving capitalism: for the many, not the few by robert b. reich: robert reich explains how to make capitalism work for the middle class
the old us The labor secretary approaches the economic issues of the day from a perspective rarely brought to light in public discourse: He rejects the widely held assumption that there is a “free market” independent of government. “A market, any market, requires the government to set and enforce the rules of the game,” writes Reich. read the review.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and RedemptionBryan Stevenson: A scathing look at America’s broken criminal justice system
Stevenson’s perspective on law enforcement is clear: “We need to reform a criminal justice system that continues to treat people better if they are rich and guilty than if they are poor and innocent.” His book centers on an African-American businessman from Alabama who was wrongfully incarcerated on death row for six years. read the review.
hillbilly elegy: memoir of a family and culture in crisis by j. d. go, you mount? White peasant? white trash?
This fascinating book is the haunting story of a man who escaped the boundaries of his class and now sometimes finds himself adrift. The book also paints a vivid picture of America’s deepening class divisions. is a fascinating illustration of growing economic inequality, and like the other poverty books on this list, it drives reality home with great power. read the review.
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Since wealth and income inequality, and thus poverty in America, can be directly related to political decisions, you might also want to check out the Top 10 Nonfiction Books on Politics (plus dozens of finalists) . and also worth checking out Reducing Global Inequalities: A Reading List and Top 10 Books on the Economics of Poverty.
And you can always find my most popular and latest reviews, plus a guide to this entire site, on the home page.
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