Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Author:
Genre: Politics & Social Sciences
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genre: Politics & Social Sciences
Book Type: Hardcover
Barbara M. reviewed on + 152 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I had added this book to my paperbackswap.com wish list--it apparently had been on someone's list of good books. When I got the book from paperback, a previous reader had enclosed a clipping of a book review on "Evicted." I think it was from the "Parade" magazine that is an insert in many Sunday papers. I probably had seen the same review when it came out which is why I added it to my wish list.
The book reads like a novel--detailed descriptions of apartments, mobile homes, people's clothing. The author also wrote conversations in quotes. I wondered how he knew all this--was he actually in all these places and was he recording all these conversations? It wasn't until I read the "About This Project" at the very end of the book that I learned that the author had, indeed, lived in the trailer park for a substantial length of time as well as other parts of Milwaukee. He tape recorded conversations.
As some Amazon reviewers noted, it was sometimes hard to keep the cast of characters straight. Might have been nice to have an alphabetical list in the back of the book. Like many Amazon reviewers, I had little sympathy for most of the people the author "shadowed." It seemed that most of them got to where they were by bad choices they made and continued to make. Author Desmond seems to think that if there was more housing assistance available, people would be able to live in better housing and get themselves out of poverty. Even with more housing assistance, people won't necessarily get out of poverty. Desmond noted that one woman who lived in the trailer park took her last $80 and blew it on lobster because, well, (as she justified it) she wanted lobster so why shouldn't she have lobster? When a person has that kind of mindset, it's hard to get ahead.
Desmond's argument to provide more housing assistance so people don't have to live in substandard housing isn't (in my opinion) going to fix the problems that low income folks have. Unless people learn to make better choices, better housing won't necessarily move them out of poverty.
The book reads like a novel--detailed descriptions of apartments, mobile homes, people's clothing. The author also wrote conversations in quotes. I wondered how he knew all this--was he actually in all these places and was he recording all these conversations? It wasn't until I read the "About This Project" at the very end of the book that I learned that the author had, indeed, lived in the trailer park for a substantial length of time as well as other parts of Milwaukee. He tape recorded conversations.
As some Amazon reviewers noted, it was sometimes hard to keep the cast of characters straight. Might have been nice to have an alphabetical list in the back of the book. Like many Amazon reviewers, I had little sympathy for most of the people the author "shadowed." It seemed that most of them got to where they were by bad choices they made and continued to make. Author Desmond seems to think that if there was more housing assistance available, people would be able to live in better housing and get themselves out of poverty. Even with more housing assistance, people won't necessarily get out of poverty. Desmond noted that one woman who lived in the trailer park took her last $80 and blew it on lobster because, well, (as she justified it) she wanted lobster so why shouldn't she have lobster? When a person has that kind of mindset, it's hard to get ahead.
Desmond's argument to provide more housing assistance so people don't have to live in substandard housing isn't (in my opinion) going to fix the problems that low income folks have. Unless people learn to make better choices, better housing won't necessarily move them out of poverty.
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