Bibliograph

A people's history of poverty in America, Stephen Pimpare

Type

Label

A people's history of poverty in America, Stephen Pimpare

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-304) and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A people's history of poverty in America

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

705522811

Responsibility statement

Stephen Pimpare

Series statement

The New Press people's history series

Summary

Tens of millions of Americans currently live in poverty, more and more of them in extreme poverty. But the words we use to describe them tend to obscure rather than illuminate the human lives and real-life stories behind the statistics. A "sympathetic social history that allows poor people, past and present, to tell their own remarkable similar stories" (Booklist), A People's History of Poverty in America movingly brings to life poor people's everyday battles for dignity and respect in the face of the judgment, control, and disdain that are all too often the price they must pay for charity and government aid. Through prodigious research, Stephen Pimpare has unearthed poignant and often surprising testimonies and accounts that range from the early days of the United States to the complex social and economic terrain of the present. A work of sweeping analysis [this book] reminds us that poverty is not in itself a moral failure, though our failure to understand it may well be. -- Back cover

Table Of Contents

Introduction : the indignant poor and the constants of relief -- Survive : my brother's keeper -- Sleep : a place to call home -- Eat : dumpster diving -- Work : (in)dependence -- Love : women and children first -- Respect : the price of relief -- Escape : black and blue -- Surrender : a culture of poverty? -- Resist : bread or blood -- Epilogue : poor math

Classification