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A review by tim_ohearn
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
5.0
I saw this book on Bill Gates' end of year list a few years ago. It was on my to-read shelf for a long time. During that time, a few of my friends have become landlords and I've toyed around with the idea myself (to the extent that I want to buy the condo I rent and lease one bedroom to my college buddy). Real estate fascinates me as does the art of landlording, and this book scratched my itch. Additionally, I'm interested in analyses of social issues that can spur meaningful change. Not to rip a testimonial from the inside cover, but this is a genuinely new perspective.
Evicted is an ethnography written by Matthew Desmond in which he doesn't involve himself in the narrative. This was a major factor in him receiving the Pulitzer Prize. A topic in my freshman-year English class was the significance of auto-ethnographies. If that teacher still teaches that lesson I'm sure this book will be added to the course of study. It's raw with no preaching and little time for you to catch your breath. You don't know who the hell the author is until the very end, and it makes the book that more special.
The author followed around several different impoverished families and individuals in Wisconsin. In the book's conclusion, the amount of material that was claimed to have been collected and sifted through, and, thus, the amount of material that didn't make it into the book, is simply astounding. The stories recounted include black people, white people, families, drug addicts, a recovered addict, the working poor, the disabled, those with mental health issues, those with large families, those about to start families, and so much more. Really, all the bases are covered. Some people suffer in trailer parks, others suffer in the inner-city and in shelters, but there are striking commonalities and brilliant insights into the human condition. The takeaway is that we have a housing crisis and insufficient support at the low end of the income spectrum.
The book made me happy for what I have. Happy for what I've had, appreciative for what I expect to continue to have. It helped me understand for the first time why certain childhood friends of mine always moved. Why certain classmates were rarely in school and why I had such a hard time understanding truancy at that stage of my life.
What's the root cause? We tend to throw blame around too freely, but when the author shares his thoughts at the end of the book, he seems to focus on a broken federal housing assistance program and also a lack of legal representation for those facing eviction. The cycle of poverty is complex and I doubt any meaningful change will be made in my lifetime, especially since traditional middle-classism is eroding as well.
I closed the book with a newfound respect for those working to make change in the most impoverished areas of the country, such as some neighborhoods here and Chicago. I believe that people are deserving of certain natural rights and it's easy to see how affordable housing became so convoluted (again, see the scars of a horrible public housing disaster here in Chicago). The effects of this failure are made palpable by this book.
The author doesn't go to lengths to make characters more likable and leaves it up to the reader to form opinions. For example, a prevalent theme is that nobody seems to possess any semblance of financial literacy. Some feel they deserve nice things and in one example someone uses food stamps to buy crab legs. Still more spend frivolously on things like snacks, alcohol, and marijuana. Frankly, nobody seemed to be eating rice and beans. I know that the "just don't have kids" argument is considered politically incorrect and ignorant now, but it seemed like many people sealed their fate in the cycle of poverty by reproducing. In the United States, you have unalienable rights once you are born, but I don't understand why it's so taboo to approach the topic of careless reproduction and what we can do to help more people lift themselves out of terrible situations.
The book is a real conversation-starter and is my pick for the one social issue book you should read this year.
Evicted is an ethnography written by Matthew Desmond in which he doesn't involve himself in the narrative. This was a major factor in him receiving the Pulitzer Prize. A topic in my freshman-year English class was the significance of auto-ethnographies. If that teacher still teaches that lesson I'm sure this book will be added to the course of study. It's raw with no preaching and little time for you to catch your breath. You don't know who the hell the author is until the very end, and it makes the book that more special.
The author followed around several different impoverished families and individuals in Wisconsin. In the book's conclusion, the amount of material that was claimed to have been collected and sifted through, and, thus, the amount of material that didn't make it into the book, is simply astounding. The stories recounted include black people, white people, families, drug addicts, a recovered addict, the working poor, the disabled, those with mental health issues, those with large families, those about to start families, and so much more. Really, all the bases are covered. Some people suffer in trailer parks, others suffer in the inner-city and in shelters, but there are striking commonalities and brilliant insights into the human condition. The takeaway is that we have a housing crisis and insufficient support at the low end of the income spectrum.
The book made me happy for what I have. Happy for what I've had, appreciative for what I expect to continue to have. It helped me understand for the first time why certain childhood friends of mine always moved. Why certain classmates were rarely in school and why I had such a hard time understanding truancy at that stage of my life.
What's the root cause? We tend to throw blame around too freely, but when the author shares his thoughts at the end of the book, he seems to focus on a broken federal housing assistance program and also a lack of legal representation for those facing eviction. The cycle of poverty is complex and I doubt any meaningful change will be made in my lifetime, especially since traditional middle-classism is eroding as well.
I closed the book with a newfound respect for those working to make change in the most impoverished areas of the country, such as some neighborhoods here and Chicago. I believe that people are deserving of certain natural rights and it's easy to see how affordable housing became so convoluted (again, see the scars of a horrible public housing disaster here in Chicago). The effects of this failure are made palpable by this book.
The author doesn't go to lengths to make characters more likable and leaves it up to the reader to form opinions. For example, a prevalent theme is that nobody seems to possess any semblance of financial literacy. Some feel they deserve nice things and in one example someone uses food stamps to buy crab legs. Still more spend frivolously on things like snacks, alcohol, and marijuana. Frankly, nobody seemed to be eating rice and beans. I know that the "just don't have kids" argument is considered politically incorrect and ignorant now, but it seemed like many people sealed their fate in the cycle of poverty by reproducing. In the United States, you have unalienable rights once you are born, but I don't understand why it's so taboo to approach the topic of careless reproduction and what we can do to help more people lift themselves out of terrible situations.
The book is a real conversation-starter and is my pick for the one social issue book you should read this year.