CURRENTLY MEETING VIA ZOOM
Meets the 2nd Monday of each month to discuss books that explore issues like racism, progressive politics, environmental activism, and equal rights for all.
Monday, June 12th at 7:00pm
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a sweeping argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.
The United States is the richest country on earth, yet it has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in five of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay workers poverty wages?
In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond sets forth a new and hard-won answer to this question, revealing that there is so much poverty in America not in spite of our wealth but because of it. Drawing on history, research, and original reporting, he argues that affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly work to keep poor people poor. The well-off exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. Those of us who are financially secure prioritize the subsidization of affluence over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside zones of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.
This fiercely argued and compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original case for eliminating poverty in America and shows how we can all be part of that effort. His book calls on us to become true poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of equity.The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a sweeping argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.
The United States is the richest country on earth, yet it has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in five of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay workers poverty wages?
In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond sets forth a new and hard-won answer to this question, revealing that there is so much poverty in America not in spite of our wealth but because of it. Drawing on history, research, and original reporting, he argues that affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly work to keep poor people poor. The well-off exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. Those of us who are financially secure prioritize the subsidization of affluence over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside zones of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.
This fiercely argued and compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original case for eliminating poverty in America and shows how we can all be part of that effort. His book calls on us to become true poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of equity.
Progressives Book Club 2023 Book List:
January - Not a Nation of Immigrants by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
February - The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher
March - Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness by Laura Coates
April - American Psychosis by David Corn
May - The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas
June - Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
July - Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross
August - Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant by Jose Angel N. (tentative)
Book Links:
