Hand to Mouth: The Truth About Being Poor in a Wealthy World

(Paperback)

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Description

Linda Tirado knows from experience what it is to be poor, to struggle to make ends meet. She has worked all hours as a food service worker in a chain restaurant to support her young family. She knows what it's like to have problems you wish you could fix, but no money, energy or resources to fix them, and no hope of getting any.

In 2013, an essay on the everyday realities of poverty that Tirado wrote and posted online was read and shared around the world. In Hand to Mouth, she gives a searing, witty and clear-eyed insider account of being poor in the world's richest nation. She looks at how ordinary people fall or are born into the poverty trap, explains why the poor don't always behave in the way the middle classes think they should, and makes an urgent call for us all to understand and meet the challenges they face.

Reviews

I've been waiting for this book for a long time. Devastatingly smart and funny, consistently entertaining and unflinchingly on target. Linda Tirado is the real thing

Conveys harsh realities with the unshakeable integrity of true, lived experience, combined with brilliant analysis, deep intelligence and flaming humour ... Anyone interested in fairness and justice should read this book

Hand to Mouth is phenomenal. Profoundly moving, smart, brilliant

Author Bio

Linda Tirado is married with two children and lives in Washington DC. Until 2014, she worked as a food service worker in a chain restaurant. She blogs, writes and campaigns on poverty and class issues. Since her online essay 'Why I Make Terrible Decisions' went viral around the world in autumn 2013, she has received speaking and commentary requests from numerous media outlets and institutions. Hand to Mouth is her first book.