Poverty, by America
By Matthew Desmond
- Genre
- History, Society & Current Affairs
- Publisher
- Crown (Penguin Random House)
- Publication year
- 2023
- ISBN
- 9780593239919
Poverty, by America is a work of nonfiction by the sociologist Matthew Desmond, published by Crown in March 2023. It argues that affluent Americans help sustain poverty and calls for its abolition. A #1 New York Times bestseller, it was named a best book of 2023 by numerous publications.
Why does the richest country on earth have so much poverty? Matthew Desmond's answer, in this brisk and bracing polemic, is uncomfortable: because so many others benefit from it. The sociologist behind the Pulitzer-winning Evicted argues that poverty persists not by accident but because affluent Americans - through cheap goods, tax breaks, exclusionary neighborhoods and depressed wages - are its beneficiaries and, often, its authors. Shorter and angrier than his earlier work, the book trades immersive reporting for a direct moral argument and a call to become 'poverty abolitionists.' intendle recommends it as a provocation worth arguing with, clear-eyed about how policy choices produce need. A #1 New York Times bestseller and a best book of 2023 across many outlets, it reframes a familiar problem as a collective responsibility. Whether or not you accept every claim, you will not think about American poverty the same way again.