The writing was so exceptional, it was easy to become engrossed in the story of each person that I forgot that I was reading what amounts to a sociology book on human rights. Despite studying inequality at length and reading as many books on inequality that I can get my hands on, this book really stood out because it added a level of complexity to my understanding of how inequality is maintained. In this outstanding and eye-opening ethnography, Matthew Desmond provided the public with an incredibly interesting look at inequality through the lens of housing accommodations for the poorest and most marginalized citizens in America. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible. As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America's vast inequality - and to people's determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.īased on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, this masterful book transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their incomes on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. She moves to evict Arleen and her boys a few days before Christmas.Įven in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. They loathe some of their tenants and are fond of others, but, as Sherrena puts it, 'Love don't pay the bills'. The fates of these families are in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former schoolteacher turned inner-city entrepreneur and Tobin Charney, who runs one of the worst trailer parks in Milwaukee. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction.

Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. In this brilliant, heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge.

National Book Critics Circle Award winner, General Nonfiction, 2016.įrom Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America. Pulitzer Prize winner, General Nonfiction, 2017.

Evicted book