Best Poverty Books
Here you will get Best Poverty Books For you.This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Author: by J. D. Vance
0062300555
Harper Paperbacks
English
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER IS NOW A MAJOR-MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD AND STARRING AMY ADAMS, GLENN CLOSE, AND GABRIEL BASSO”You will not read a more important book about America this year.”The Economist “A riveting book.”The Wall Street Journal”Essential reading.”David Brooks, New York TimesHillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisisthat of white working-class Americans.
The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside.J.D.
Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America.J. D.’s grandparents were dirt poor and in love, and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them.
2. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Author: by Matthew Desmond
Crown
English
448 pages
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE One of the most acclaimed books of our time, this modern classic has set a new standard for reporting on poverty (Barbara Ehrenreich, The New York Times Book Review).
In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur Genius Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as wrenching and revelatory (The Nation), vivid and unsettling (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems.
Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY President Barack Obama The New York Times Book Review The Boston Globe The Washington Post NPR Entertainment Weekly The New Yorker Bloomberg Esquire BuzzFeed Fortune San Francisco Chronicle Milwaukee Journal Sentinel St. Louis Post-Dispatch Politico The Week Chicago Public Library BookPage Kirkus Reviews Library Journal Publishers Weekly Booklist Shelf AwarenessWINNER OF: The National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction The Hillman Prize for Book Journalism The PEN/New England Award The Chicago Tribune Heartland PrizeFINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE AND THE KIRKUS PRIZEEvicted stands among the very best of the social justice books.
3. Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
Author: by Barbara Ehrenreich
Picador USA
English
256 pages
In this now classic work, Barbara Ehrenreich, our sharpest and most original social critic, goes “undercover” as an unskilled worker to reveal the dark side of American prosperity. Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them.
She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a jobany jobcan be the ticket to a better life. But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered.
Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly “unskilled,” that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort.
4. The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap
Author: by Mehrsa Baradaran
English
384 pages
0674237471
Read this book.It explains so much about the momentBeautiful, heartbreaking work. Ta-Nehisi CoatesA deep accounting of how America got to a point where a median white family has 13 times more wealth than the median black family. The AtlanticExtraordinaryBaradaran focuses on a part of the American story that’s often ignored: the way African Americans were locked out of the financial engines that create wealth in America.
Ezra KleinWhen the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the black community owned less than 1 percent of the total wealth in America. More than 150 years later, that number has barely budged. The Color of Money seeks to explain the stubborn persistence of this racial wealth gap by focusing on the generators of wealth in the black community: black banks.
With the civil rights movement in full swing, President Nixon promoted black capitalism, a plan to support black banks and minority-owned businesses. But the catch-22 of black banking is that the very institutions needed to help communities escape the deep poverty caused by discrimination and segregation inevitably became victims of that same poverty.
5. Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America
Author: by Gigi Georges
Harper (May 25, 2021)
English
288 pages
In Downeast, Gigi Georges follows five girls as they come of age in one of the most challenging and geographically isolated regions on the Eastern seaboard. Their stories reveal surprising truths about rural America and offer hope for its future.
It’s almost impossible not to care about these fierce young women and cheer for their hard-won successes (Kirkus) in this heartfelt portrait and worthy tribute (Publishers Weekly). Nestled in Maine’s far northeast corner, Washington County sits an hour’s drive from the heart of famed and bustling Acadia National Park.
Yet it’s a world away. For Willow, Vivian, Mckenna, Audrey, and Josiefive teenage girls caught between tradition and transformation in this remote regionit is home. Downeast follows their journeys of heartbreak and hope in uncertain times, creating a nuanced and unique portrait of rural America with women at its center.
Willow lives in the shadow of an abusive, drug-addicted father and searches for stability through photography and love. Vivian, a gifted writer, feels stifled by her church and town, and struggles to break free without severing family ties. Mckenna is a softball pitching phenom whose passion is the lobster-fishing she learned at her father’s knee.
6. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself
Author: by Steve Corbett
Moody Publishers
English
288 pages
With more than 450,000 copies in print, When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation. Poverty is much more than simply a lack of material resources, and it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve it.
When Helping Hurts shows how some alleviation efforts, failing to consider the complexities of poverty, have actually (and unintentionally) done more harm than good.But it looks ahead. It encourages us to see the dignity in everyone, to empower the materially poor, and to know that we are all uniquely needyand that God in the gospel is reconciling all things to himself.
Focusing on both North American and Majority World contexts, When Helping Hurts provides proven strategies for effective poverty alleviation, catalyzing the idea that sustainable change comes not from the outside in, but from the inside out.
7. The Salt Path: A Memoir
Author: by Raynor Winn
English
288 pages
0143134116
“Polished, poignant… An inspiring story of true love.”Entertainment WeeklyA BEST BOOK OF 2019, NPR’s Book ConciergeSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BOOK AWARDOVER 400,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDEThe true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood.
With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall. Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea, and sky.
Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable and life-affirming journey. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of homehow it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.
8. Wealth, Poverty and Politics
Author: by Thomas Sowell
Basic Books
English
576 pages
In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Thomas Sowell, one of the foremost conservative public intellectuals in this country, argues that political and ideological struggles have led to dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. Pundits and politically motivated economists trumpet ambiguous statistics and sensational theories while ignoring the true determinant of income inequality: the production of wealth.
We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus exclusively on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture. Sowell contends that liberals have a particular interest in misreading the data and chastises them for using income inequality as an argument for the welfare state.
Refuting Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left, Sowell draws on accurate empirical data to show that the inequality is not nearly as extreme or sensational as we have been led to believe. Transcending partisanship through a careful examination of data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics reveals the truth about the most explosive political issue of our time.
9. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Author: by Katherine Boo
081297932X
English
288 pages
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADEInspiring …Extraordinary … [Katherine Boo] shows us how people in the most desperate circumstances can find the resilience to hang on to their humanity.
Just as important, she makes us care. PeopleA tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece. Judges, PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times The Washington Post O: The Oprah Magazine USA Today New York The Miami Herald San Francisco Chronicle NewsdayIn this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.
As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees a fortune beyond counting in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class.
10. Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation
Author: by John Freeman
Penguin Books
English
352 pages
Thirty-six major contemporary writers examine life in a deeply divided Americaincluding Anthony Doerr, Ann Patchett, Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, Hector Tobar, Joyce Carol Oates, Edwidge Danticat, Richard Russo, Eula Bliss, Karen Russell, and many more America is broken. You don’t need a fistful of statistics to know this.
Visit any city, and evidence of our shattered social compact will present itself. From Appalachia to the Rust Belt and down to rural Texas, the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest stretches to unimaginable chasms. Whether the cause of this inequality is systemic injustice, the entrenchment of racism in our culture, the long war on drugs, or immigration policies, it endangers not only the American Dream but our very lives.
In Tales of Two Americas, some of the literary world’s most exciting writers look beyond numbers and wages to convey what it feels like to live in this divided nation. Their extraordinarily powerful stories, essays, and poems demonstrate how boundaries break down when experiences are shared, and that in sharing our stories we can help to alleviate a suffering that touches so many people.
11. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
Author: by Abhijit V. Banerjee
PublicAffairs
English
320 pages
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics upend the most common assumptions about how economics works in this gripping and disruptive portrait of how poor people actually live. Why do the poor borrow to save? Why do they miss out on free life-saving immunizations, but pay for unnecessary drugs?
In Poor Economics, Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two award-winning MIT professors, answer these questions based on years of field research from around the world. Called “marvelous, rewarding” by the Wall Street Journal, the book offers a radical rethinking of the economics of poverty and an intimate view of life on 99 cents a day.
Poor Economics shows that creating a world without poverty begins with understanding the daily decisions facing the poor.
12. Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professional and Communities
Author: by Philip E. DeVol
aha! Process, Inc.
English
284 pages
Bridges Out of Poverty is a unique and powerful tool designed specifically for social, health, and legal services professionals. Based in part on Dr. Ruby K. Payne’s myth shattering A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Bridges reaches out to the millions of service providers and businesses whose daily work connects them with the lives of people in poverty.
In a highly readable format you’ll find case studies, detailed analysis, helpful charts and exercises, and specific solutions you and your organization can implement right now to: Redesign programs to better serve people you work with Build skill sets for management to help guide employees Upgrade training for front-line staff like receptionists, case workers, and managers; Improve treatment outcomes in health care and behavioral health care; Increase the likelihood of moving from welfare to work.
If your business, agency, or organization works with people from poverty, only a deeper understanding of their challenges-and strengths-will help you partner with them to create opportunities for success.
13. Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
Author: by Sarah Smarsh
Scribner
English
320 pages
Finalist for the National Book Award* *Finalist for the Kirkus Prize* *Instant New York Times Bestseller* *Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, New York Post, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness, Bustle, and Publishers Weekly* An essential read for our times: an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country and a deeply humane memoir that crackles with clarifying insight.
Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up on a farm thirty miles west of Wichita, we are given a unique and essential look into the lives of poor and working class Americans living in the heartland.
During Sarah’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her; untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream.
14. The Slummer: Quarters Till Death
Author: by Geoffrey Simpson
English
362 pages
3982280109
2021 READERS’ FAVORITE 5-Star Review An impoverished runner, from an era of prolific genetic engineering, chases his dream of the 5000-meter national title.”This is the first running book I’ve read that I think, wow this is like peeking into my brain and my way of thinking.
I will be reading it again and again.”CHRIS SOLINSKY, Former American Record Holder – 10,000 m (26:59. 60)In 2083, Benjamin Brandt is among the millions of slummers who are relegated to poverty and struggle on the outskirts of society. As a minority growing up in the gritty underbelly of Cleveland’s Industrial Valley, Ben sees the way genetically designed elites live only from a distance: from the shadows of public spaces people like him are forbidden to use, and on TV, where he watches the enhanced athletes compete at an extraordinary level.
For years, a national track championship has inspired Ben to ferociously cultivate his own talent as a runner. As Ben logs miles through the potholed, darkened streets of his community, an idea takes hold of him that could turn his highly stratified society upside down.
15. Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger
Author: by Katie S. Martin
English
280 pages
1642831530
In the US, there is a wide-ranging network of at least 370 food banks, and more than 60,000 hunger-relief organizations such as food pantries and meal programs. These groups provide billions of meals a year to people in need. And yet hunger still affects one in nine Americans.
What are we doing wrong? In Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries, Katie Martin argues that if handing out more and more food was the answer, we would have solved the problem of hunger decades ago. Martin instead presents a new model for charitable food, one where success is measured not by pounds of food distributed but by lives changed.
The key is to focus on the root causes of hunger. When we shift our attention to strategies that build empathy, equity, and political will, we can implement real solutions. Martin shares those solutions in a warm, engaging style, with simple steps that anyone working or volunteering at a food bank or pantry can take today.
Some are short-term strategies to create a more dignified experience for food pantry clients: providing client choice, where individuals select their own food, or redesigning a waiting room with better seating and a designated greeter. Some are longer-term: increasing the supply of healthy food, offering job training programs, or connecting clients to other social services.
16. Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
Author: by Theodore Dalrymple
1566635055
Ivan R. Dee
English
Here is a searing account-probably the best yet published-of life in the underclass and why it persists as it does. Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist who treats the poor in a slum hospital and a prison in England, has seemingly seen it all.
Yet in listening to and observing his patients, he is continually astonished by the latest twist of depravity that exceeds even his own considerable experience. Dalrymple’s key insight in Life at the Bottom is that long-term poverty is caused not by economics but by a dysfunctional set of values, one that is continually reinforced by an elite culture searching for victims.
This culture persuades those at the bottom that they have no responsibility for their actions and are not the molders of their own lives. Drawn from the pages of the cutting-edge political and cultural quarterly City Journal, Dalrymple’s book draws upon scores of eye-opening, true-life vignettes that are by turns hilariously funny, chillingly horrifying, and all too revealing-sometimes all at once.
