MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Dion Graham is a master of nonfiction narration. He knows exactly when to pause, sets off quotations flawlessly, and brings exquisite emotion to the text. Here, Graham varies his pacing to complement the flow of Matthew Desmond's writing, whether he's describing the depth of American poverty, the history of why poverty exists in such a wealthy country, or the heartrending examples of poverty's effects on real people. Desmond debunks old tropes surrounding poverty. For example, he says the poor are not lazy and idle; they often work several jobs to stay afloat. He urges listeners to become poverty abolitionists in order to end this national disgrace. As in their previous pairing (EVICTED, 2016), Graham performs with energy and intensity, matching Desmond's outrage. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
01/02/2023
Pulitzer winner Desmond follows up Evicted with a powerful inquiry into why the U.S. is “the richest country on earth, with more poverty than any other advanced democracy.” Noting that 38 million Americans cannot afford basic necessities, Desmond argues that poverty persists because others benefit from it: workers are paid non-living wages and unions are discouraged in order to boost the pay of corporate executives; poor consumers are overcharged for rental housing and financial services so that landlords and banks can prosper; and affluent families benefit from tax breaks, student loans, and other forms of federal aid while welfare programs are publicly belittled and made difficult to access. Poverty is further entrenched by the underfunding of education, mass transit, and healthcare, Desmond argues, creating a world of private opulence and public squalor. His solutions include eliminating the residential segregation that blocks poor families from well-funded public services and employment and housing opportunities. More broadly, he calls for better-off Americans to acknowledge their complicity in perpetuating poverty and to pressure the government to undertake “an aggressive, uncompromising antipoverty agenda.” Though the path to achieving these reforms isn’t always clear, Desmond enriches his detailed and trenchant analysis with poignant reflections on America’s “unblushing inequality” and the “anomie of wealth.” It’s a gut-wrenching call for change. Agent: Katherine Flynn, Kneerim & Williams. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
A searing, essential book . . .[that] solidifies Desmond’s status as a remarkable chronicler of our times.”—Vulture
“The passion, eloquence, and lively storytelling that made Evicted a Pulitzer Prize–winning bestseller are back in force as Desmond continues to speak on behalf of America’s most hard-pressed. Desmond is our national conscience.”—Oprah Daily
“Desmond’s new book is 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
“[Desmond’s] arguments have the potential to push debate about wealth in America to a new level. . . . The brilliance of Poverty, By America . . . is provided by effective storytelling, which illustrates that poverty has become a way of life.”—The Guardian
“Poverty, by America is a searing moral indictment of how and why the United States tolerates such high levels of poverty and of inequality . . . [and] a hands-on call to action.”—The Nation
“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
“Provocative and compelling . . . [Desmond] packs in a sweeping array of examples and numbers to support his thesis and . . . the accumulation has the effect of shifting one’s brain ever so slightly to change the entire frame of reference.”—NPR
“A data-driven manifesto that turns a critical eye on those who inflict and perpetuate unlivable conditions on others.”—The Boston Globe
“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
“A compact jeremiad on the persistence of extreme want in a nation of extraordinary wealth . . . [Desmond’s] purpose here is to draw attention to what’s plain in front of us—damn the etiquette, and damn the grand abstractions.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[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
“Desmond’s book makes an urgent and unignorable appeal to our national conscience, one that has been quietly eroded over decades of increasing personal consumption and untiring corporate greed.”—Claire Messud, Harper’s Magazine
“[Poverty, by America is] a book that could alter the way you see the world. . . . It reads almost like a passionate speech, urging us to dig deeper, to forget what we think we know as we try to understand the inequities upon which America was built. . . . A surprisingly hopeful work.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“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
“A powerful polemic, one that has expanded and deepened my understanding of American poverty. Desmond approaches the subject with a refreshing candidness and directs his ire toward all the right places.”—Roxane Gay
“Passionate and empathetic.”—Salon
“This book is essential and instructive, hopeful and enraging.”—Ann Patchett
The Guardian
[Desmond’s] arguments have the potential to push debate about wealth in America to a new level. . . . The brilliance of Poverty, By America . . . is provided by effective storytelling, which illustrates that poverty has become a way of life.
Esquire
Delivers a radical vision: a book that urges us to abandon old ways of thinking and dream a new path forward.”
BookPage (starred audio review)
With a disarming, conversational tone, Graham guides us through a harrowing topic while also bringing a sense of urgency and reflection, amplifying Desmond’s empathy and curiosity in such a way that invites listeners to lean in and pay attention.”
Vulture
A searing, essential book . . .[that] solidifies Desmond’s status as a remarkable chronicler of our times.
AudioFile
Dion Graham is a master of nonfiction narration. He knows exactly when to pause, sets off quotations flawlessly, and brings exquisite emotion to the text…Graham performs with energy and intensity, matching Desmond’s outrage. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award.”
Harper’s Magazine Claire Messud
Desmond’s book makes an urgent and unignorable appeal to our national conscience, one that has been quietly eroded over decades of increasing personal consumption and untiring corporate greed.
Oprah Daily
The passion, eloquence, and lively storytelling that made Evicted a Pulitzer Prize–winning bestseller are back in force as Desmond continues to speak on behalf of America’s most hard-pressed. Desmond is our national conscience.
Prospect
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.
The New Yorker
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.
Roxane Gay
A powerful polemic, one that has expanded and deepened my understanding of American poverty. Desmond approaches the subject with a refreshing candidness and directs his ire toward all the right places.
Time
[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.
The New York Times Book Review
A compact jeremiad on the persistence of extreme want in a nation of extraordinary wealth . . . [Desmond’s] purpose here is to draw attention to what’s plain in front of us—damn the etiquette, and damn the grand abstractions.
Rolling Stone
Desmond’s new book is 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.
New Yorker
Eschews the easy and often smug allure of abstraction, in favor of plainspoken practicality. Its moral force is a gut punch.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
[Poverty, by America is] a book that could alter the way you see the world. . . . It reads almost like a passionate speech, urging us to dig deeper, to forget what we think we know as we try to understand the inequities upon which America was built. . . . A surprisingly hopeful work.
The Nation
Poverty, by America is a searing moral indictment of how and why the United States tolerates such high levels of poverty and of inequality . . . [and] a hands-on call to action.
The Boston Globe
A data-driven manifesto that turns a critical eye on those who inflict and perpetuate unlivable conditions on others.
Boston Globe
A data-driven manifesto that turns a critical eye on those who inflict and perpetuate unlivable conditions on others.”
The Economist
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.
NPR
[Desmond] packs in a sweeping array of examples and numbers to support his thesis…[which] has the effect of shifting one’s brain ever so slightly to change the entire frame of reference.”
Salon
Passionate and empathetic.
Ann Patchett
This book is essential and instructive, hopeful and enraging.
Library Journal
01/01/2023
Pulitzer Prize—winning sociologist Desmond (Evicted) argues that poverty exists in the United States because wealthy people benefit from it. While the United States ranks among the richest countries in the world, it has the largest amount of poverty; the author expects that to expand. Presently, every one in three Americans work in low-paying jobs, one in eight live in severe poverty, and the wealth gap between Black and white families remains large. For example, in the average white family, the head of household with a high school diploma is better paid than the head of a Black household with a college degree. The author also points to when most white women did not have to work outside their home; whereas Black women, to survive, had to work any job available. The author suggests solutions by advocating for what he calls "poverty abolitionists," people he hopes will insist on collective bargaining and producing true economic rewards for workers. He also urges the government to end hunger and create laws that ensure all Americans make a livable wage. VERDICT This book will likely interest scholars. Add it to social and behavioral sciences collections.—Claude Ury
MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
Dion Graham is a master of nonfiction narration. He knows exactly when to pause, sets off quotations flawlessly, and brings exquisite emotion to the text. Here, Graham varies his pacing to complement the flow of Matthew Desmond's writing, whether he's describing the depth of American poverty, the history of why poverty exists in such a wealthy country, or the heartrending examples of poverty's effects on real people. Desmond debunks old tropes surrounding poverty. For example, he says the poor are not lazy and idle; they often work several jobs to stay afloat. He urges listeners to become poverty abolitionists in order to end this national disgrace. As in their previous pairing (EVICTED, 2016), Graham performs with energy and intensity, matching Desmond's outrage. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-12-01
A thoughtful program for eradicating poverty from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted.
“America’s poverty is not for lack of resources,” writes Desmond. “We lack something else.” That something else is compassion, in part, but it’s also the lack of a social system that insists that everyone pull their weight—and that includes the corporations and wealthy individuals who, the IRS estimates, get away without paying upward of $1 trillion per year. Desmond, who grew up in modest circumstances and suffered poverty in young adulthood, points to the deleterious effects of being poor—among countless others, the precarity of health care and housing (with no meaningful controls on rent), lack of transportation, the constant threat of losing one’s job due to illness, and the need to care for dependent children. It does not help, Desmond adds, that so few working people are represented by unions or that Black Americans, even those who have followed the “three rules” (graduate from high school, get a full-time job, wait until marriage to have children), are far likelier to be poor than their White compatriots. Furthermore, so many full-time jobs are being recast as contracted, fire-at-will gigs, “not a break from the norm as much as an extension of it, a continuation of corporations finding new ways to limit their obligations to workers.” By Desmond’s reckoning, besides amending these conditions, it would not take a miracle to eliminate poverty: about $177 billion, which would help end hunger and homelessness and “make immense headway in driving down the many agonizing correlates of poverty, like violence, sickness, and despair.” These are matters requiring systemic reform, which will in turn require Americans to elect officials who will enact that reform. And all of us, the author urges, must become “poverty abolitionists…refusing to live as unwitting enemies of the poor.” Fortune 500 CEOs won’t like Desmond’s message for rewriting the social contract—which is precisely the point.
A clearly delineated guide to finally eradicate poverty in America.