This searing, heartbreaking book tells the story of poverty today, and the people who live it.
2015 MacArthur 'Genius' award winner Matthew Desmond is an associate professor of sociology and social science at Harvard University and co-director of the Justice and Poverty Project. He is the author of the award-winning book On The Fireline and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune.
An intimate portrait of what it's like to be powerless in the
world's superpower ... Evicted shows how the smallest event
can rip through poor lives, sending them spinning out of control...
To British eyes, the narrative reads like a dispatch from the
near-future. -- Aditya Chakrabortty * Guardian *
For the two or three weeks I was reading the book, it formed my
topic of conversation with friends, and at night, when I went to
sleep, it filled my thoughts ... It makes you aware of how
complicated the webs holding you up are. -- Benjamin Markovits *
New Statesman *
A monumental and vivid study of urban poverty ... Evicted
demands attention. It shines a klieg light on a dark corner of the
American experience -- Ed Caesar * Sunday Times *
Heartbreaking... Desmond's acute observational skills, his facility
with reported dialogue and his ability to wrench chaotic stories
into clear prose make Evicted a vivid, if sometimes
gruelling, read... with UK house prices unaffordable, a dearth of
council housing and a Government committed to austerity,
Evicted serves as a warning as to what happens when a
society refuses to recognise the fundamental human right to shelter
-- Keith Kahn-Harris * Independent *
A remarkable ethnography ... [Desmond] has a novelist's eye for the
telling detail and a keen ear for dialogue ... This is a
significant literary achievement, as well as a feat of reporting
underpinned by statistical labour -- Jonathan Derbyshire *
Financial Times *
Astonishing ... Desmond has set a new standard for reporting on
poverty -- Barbara Ehrenreich * Herald *
An extraordinary ethnographic study... Desmond takes people who are
usually seen as worthless, and shows us their full humanity ... By
examining one city through the microscopic lens of housing, he
shows us how the system that produces that pain and poverty was
created and is maintained -- Katha Pollitt * Guardian *
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