Evicted
Poverty and Profit in the American City
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3.6 • 5 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
*WINNER OF THE 2017 PULITZER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION*
'Beautifully written, thought-provoking, and unforgettable ... If you want a good understanding of how the issues that cause poverty are intertwined, you should read this book' Bill Gates, Best Books of 2017
'Essential. A compelling and damning exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter.' Owen Jones
Arleen spends nearly all her money on rent but is kicked out with her kids in Milwaukee's coldest winter for years. Doreen's home is so filthy her family call it 'the rat hole'. Lamar, a wheelchair-bound ex-soldier, tries to work his way out of debt for his boys. Scott, a nurse turned addict, lives in a gutted-out trailer. This is their world. And this is the twenty-first century: where fewer and fewer people can afford a simple roof over their head.
From abandoned slums to shelters, eviction courts to ghettoes, Matthew Desmond spent years living with and recording the stories of those struggling to survive - yet who won't give up. A work of love, care and humanity, Evicted reminds us why, without a home, nothing else is possible. It is one of the most necessary books of our time.
'This is an extraordinary and crucial piece of work. Read it. Please, read it' - Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author of Random Family
'Sensitive, achingly beautiful' - Robert D. Putnam, author of Our Kids
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This book broke our heart and galvanised us to push for change. It tells the story of eight Milwaukee families facing eviction, mapping out a devastatingly broken system that makes it all but impossible for poor Americans—most of whom spend more than half of their monthly income on subpar rental properties—to find a basic measure of stability and security. Matthew Desmond spent two years with his subjects. He uses lively dialogue, vivid anecdotes and crisp descriptions to narrate their real-life tragedies. Evicted paints an ugly picture of predatory landlords, punitive laws and a lack of reasonable policies and programs to help those struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gripping storytelling and meticulous research undergird this outstanding ethnographic study, in which Desmond (On the Fireline), an associate professor of sociology at Harvard, explores the impact of eviction on poverty-stricken families in Milwaukee, Wis. Living first in a rundown trailer park with predominantly white tenants and then in an African-American inner-city neighborhood, Desmond conducted fieldwork by observing and asking questions of his neighbors; later, he collected extensive data about eviction specifically in the private rental market. The book reveals the concentrated suffering of people repeatedly faced with the loss of their homes. He shares the stories of Lamar, a double amputee raising adolescent boys; Scott, who tries to conquer his heroin addiction and return to his nursing career; single mom Arleen, her sons, and their cat, Little; and five other families. In one gut-wrenching scene, Desmond shadows a moving crew as they evict numerous households in one day, finding in one tenant's face "the look of someone realizing that her family would be homeless in a matter of hours." Desmond identifies affordable housing as a leading social justice issue of our time and offers concrete solutions to the crisis.
