Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

8 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

This was really informative but almost too much at times. This read like a really interesting textbook about how we as a society create and perpetuate poverty. There were a lot of interesting facts about how America was affected by the pandemic and how the government creates a lot of situations where poverty is increased. This being said it is sooo dense and boring at times. I listened to the audio version which was great but I did zone out a few times. It's not what I would say fun but it is informative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Classism, Slavery, Abortion, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Confinement

julianh's review

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gaslighting, and Slavery

kshertz's review

informative inspiring fast-paced

4.75

The man does his research. I’m incredibly impressed with the thorough research and care taken to address poverty. I’m happy it dispels the myths and gives real actionable solutions. I find it to be a great blueprint for how to move forward. Poverty and how to rid American of it was so informative and inspiring. I leave the book with thoughts and plans for how I can divest from poverty and become a poverty abolitionist. I really learned a lot 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Racism

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Classism, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Deportation, Slavery, Xenophobia, Medical content, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Pandemic/Epidemic

abbybrace98's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Grief, Racism, Gaslighting, Slavery, Drug abuse, Deportation, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Death, Child abuse, Addiction, Violence, Xenophobia, Ableism, and Hate crime

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.75

I can only use one word to decisive describe this book: WOW! It completely changed my paradigm of what I thought was poverty and helped me see what my part in poverty could be - whether as a contributor or as an abolitionist. This is not a problem we have to live with, apparently. And it’s neither a political one, though the politicians would like us to think differently. Wow.
 
Round up to a five. I wish Desmond would’ve also addressed Native American poverty and immigrant poverty. Seems like a big miss. Perhaps both are too big a topic on either of their own. Maybe the writer will write a book on these separately in a future project.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Slavery, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Racism

zombiezami's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.0

I genuinely don't understand why people are praising this book. It's giving radical moderation. The social problems that Desmond describes are very real and important to address, but his conclusions do not follow from the evidence or from how capitalism works.

Desmond's main argument is that it's necessary to be a poverty abolitionist (definitely agree), and that it's possible to abolish poverty and exploitation without dismantling capitalism (wtf?). I don't know how you study the kinds of things Desmond studies in the way that he's studied them and come to that conclusion. He believes it's possible to end poverty by persuading congress to strengthen the IRS to go after rich people who haven't paid their fair share of taxes. Sis, who do you think funds congress and made it so that's the case??

Rich people didn't just forget to pay their taxes. Congress didn't just neglect to collect those taxes. The author seems very invested in a just-world fallacy, and I hope he realizes that soon. It's well known at this point that Exxon found out decades ago that climate change was happening and that human activity, notably fossil fuel use, was causing it. Rather than doing anything to alert the public and help people prepare or divest from fossil fuels, they funded misinformation campaigns that have undermined climate activism to this day. Fast forward to now, rich people are buying bunkers in the hopes of escaping the impact of their actions on the planet and on the people they exploit. The ultra wealthy have a fundamentally different morality. They have to in order to justify having so much while others suffer and die from preventable causes.

Another frustration is that, when the author was talking about people who are in his tax bracket, who are presumably the primary audience for this book, he repeatedly uses the pronoun "we." Are we speaking French? Who is we??? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Ableism, Chronic illness, Medical content, Gaslighting, Death, and Xenophobia

Minor: Colonisation, Abortion, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Drug use, Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kbbru's review

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Gaslighting and Racism