A People's History Of Poverty In America

(Paperback)

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Description

In this compulsively readable social history, a brilliant new addition to The New Press' acclaimed People's History series, political scientist Stephen Pimpare vividly describes poverty from the perspective of the poor and welfare-reliant from the big city to the rural countryside. He focuses on how the poor have created community, secured shelter and found food and illuminates their battles for dignity and respect.Through prodigious archival research and lucid analysis, Pimpare details the ways in which charity has been inseparable from scorn.

Reviews

Reveals not only the terrible want but the sharply punishing indignity of being poor in a culture that celebrates affluence.
Frances Fox Piven, author of Poor Peoples Movements

The voices of the poor give valuable insights into the experience of poverty.
Choice

A must read for anyone interested in learning the real story of poverty, social welfare policy, and social change.
Mimi Abramovitz, Hunter College School of Social Work and the Graduate Center, CUNY

A concise and distinctive bottom-up history.
Library Journal

This book is long overdue. Stephen Pimpare reveals how long-standing American societal prejudices have led to poverty policy that regulates, exploits, and dehumanizes the poor rather than addressing the root causes.
Sondra Youdelman, Community Voices Heard

Author Bio

Stephen Pimpare is the author of The New Victorians: Poverty, Politics, and Propaganda in Two Gilded Ages (The New Press).