Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen

(Paperback)

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A thoughtful and lucid distillation of Dr. Hilfiker's personal experience working as a medical doctor in urban centres for the last twenty years, together with his readings in academic and popular writing on the subject of poverty and social welfare, this insightful book carefully argues that American welfare programmes, while effective in their aims for the middle class, do little to help the urban poor. Divided into six sections that deal with history, causes and solutions, this book will break down the myths and legends surrounding black poverty in the U.S.

Reviews

Hilfiker knows a good deal about an America about which most folks in this nation have very little real knowledge, other than disturbing stereotypes, clichs, and misinformation. . . . It is a welcome addition to a field that may, indeed must, one day spark change. Mumia Abu-Jamal


Quietly compelling, level headed, yet surprisingly disturbingand extremely useful book because it spurs us to look past the frozen landscape of U.S. apartheid's present boundaries and imagine a transformed scenario. . . . I am deeply grateful to the author for the hope and guidance of this book. Jonathan Kozol

Author Bio

Physician and writer DAVID HILFIKER, M.D. has committed his life to social justice in the practice of his two professions. In 1983, after seven years as a rural physician in north-eastern Minnesota, he moved to Washington, D.C., to practice medicine in the center of the city at Christ House, a medical recovery shelter for homeless men, where he and his family also lived. In 1990, he cofounded Josephs House, a community and hospice for formerly homeless men dying with AIDS. He lived there for three years, and continues to work there today.