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_jacket_oil_'s review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Really lays out how systems in America are made to keep people poor and destitute. Even systems that are in place to help are under funded and overwhelmed that so many people who are seeking help simply won’t get it. And as always ACAB
cvalerio's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
This book deserves no less than 5 stars. Matthew Desmond does a great job at narrating one of Americas biggest problem. It is heartbreaking and extremely reflective. I was left wanting to learn more and figuring out how I can be a part of a solution. This is a must read for all.
nataliaagnieszka's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
zoe_271's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
This book was an important read. While I don't live in the US, Evicted starkly displayed how systems and policy intertwine in a way that disadvantages people. If anybody in 2024 somehow still thinks that people in poverty are 'choosing' to be there, don't wish to work and want to live off benefits - you need to read this book.
Evicted follows several real people in poverty between 2008-09, Desmond having lived among them for months to get as true a look into their lives and struggles as possible. He masterfully depicts how hopelessness and struggle can keep people down. The importance of having a stable roof over one's head truly cannot be understated, and yet this is a privilege the richest, supposedly most well-developed nation on the planet does not choose to prioritise, allowing children to grow up in cockroach-infested drug-ridden homes, not through parental failure, but policy choices.
I cannot emphasise the need to read this book enough for anybody wanting to understand the intersectionality of poverty. Desmond displays fantastically what we all know - home is the centre of our lives, and for that to be unstable tilts everything else off-balance.
Evicted follows several real people in poverty between 2008-09, Desmond having lived among them for months to get as true a look into their lives and struggles as possible. He masterfully depicts how hopelessness and struggle can keep people down. The importance of having a stable roof over one's head truly cannot be understated, and yet this is a privilege the richest, supposedly most well-developed nation on the planet does not choose to prioritise, allowing children to grow up in cockroach-infested drug-ridden homes, not through parental failure, but policy choices.
I cannot emphasise the need to read this book enough for anybody wanting to understand the intersectionality of poverty. Desmond displays fantastically what we all know - home is the centre of our lives, and for that to be unstable tilts everything else off-balance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury
quenchgum's review against another edition
5.0
Evicted is required reading. Matthew Desmond, a renowned Harvard sociologist and a winner of the coveted MacArthur “Genius Grant” for his deep and transformative research on poverty, decided to write a book, and I’m so glad that he did. The Pulitzer committee agreed, and awarded it the Pulitzer Prize in 2017.
The book isn’t ostensibly political. At most, Desmond briefly discusses the competing frameworks that politicians use to discuss poverty, with liberals focusing on structural forces (things like past and current discrimination and increasing wealth disparities among classes) and conservatives focused on individual deficiencies (like the deeply poor buying an Xbox with welfare checks). Desmond doesn’t think either side paints the full picture. Similarly, although he proposes a few potential policy changes, he makes clear that his proposals are intended to start the conversation rather than to finish it. In other words, instead of spuriously announcing the end of the debate, he choose to enrich it by illustrating need-to-know information and perspective that most readers wouldn’t have.
As an aside, this would be one of the key “liberal” books that I’d encourage my conservative friends to read. I read a fair amount of liberal nonfiction books, and I wouldn’t necessarily push all of them across the aisle (I’m thinking of things like Coates’ Between The World And Me or Kendi’s How To Be An Antiracist, both of which I enjoyed but didn’t find particularly informative). I think this book along with Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow are the two books that pack the most punch. You can disagree with their proposals, but you should know the other side’s facts.
There are some valid critiques of this book, but they don’t come anywhere near overshadowing its benefits. It shouldn’t be the final word on the subject but it’s also explicitly not intended to be. What nobody can deny is that this is a brilliant and extremely thorough starting point. If you vote then you should read it.
The book isn’t ostensibly political. At most, Desmond briefly discusses the competing frameworks that politicians use to discuss poverty, with liberals focusing on structural forces (things like past and current discrimination and increasing wealth disparities among classes) and conservatives focused on individual deficiencies (like the deeply poor buying an Xbox with welfare checks). Desmond doesn’t think either side paints the full picture. Similarly, although he proposes a few potential policy changes, he makes clear that his proposals are intended to start the conversation rather than to finish it. In other words, instead of spuriously announcing the end of the debate, he choose to enrich it by illustrating need-to-know information and perspective that most readers wouldn’t have.
As an aside, this would be one of the key “liberal” books that I’d encourage my conservative friends to read. I read a fair amount of liberal nonfiction books, and I wouldn’t necessarily push all of them across the aisle (I’m thinking of things like Coates’ Between The World And Me or Kendi’s How To Be An Antiracist, both of which I enjoyed but didn’t find particularly informative). I think this book along with Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow are the two books that pack the most punch. You can disagree with their proposals, but you should know the other side’s facts.
There are some valid critiques of this book, but they don’t come anywhere near overshadowing its benefits. It shouldn’t be the final word on the subject but it’s also explicitly not intended to be. What nobody can deny is that this is a brilliant and extremely thorough starting point. If you vote then you should read it.