THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023

A searing study of American poverty by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted.

The United States is the richest country in the world, yet it has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. One in seven Americans lives below the poverty line, a line that has not shifted in the past fifty years, despite the efforts of successive governments. Why is there so much scarcity in this land of dollars?

In Poverty, by America, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond examines poverty in America today and the stories we tell about it. It covers topics such as social isolation, mass incarceration, the housing crisis, domestic violence, the cocaine and opioid epidemic, 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 convincing more of us to care.

To do this, we need a new story. As it stands, liberals explain poverty through insurmountable structural issues, while conservatives emphasize personal failures and bad life choices. Both disown responsibility and ignore the reality that the advantages of the rich only come at the expense of the poor. It is time for the higher earners to bring themselves back into the narrative, recognizing that the depth and breadth of poverty in any nation reflects our failure to care for one another. Poverty must finally be addressed by the community: all this suffering and need is our business, and we can bring it back.

Pages: 304, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm