NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • One of the most acclaimed books of our time, this modern classic “has set a new standard for reporting on poverty” (Barbara Ehrenreich, The New York Times Book Review).In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee … Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation), “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY President Barack Obama • The New York Times Book Review • The Boston Globe • The Washington Post • NPR • Entertainment Weekly • The New Yorker • Bloomberg • Esquire • BuzzFeed • Fortune • San Francisco Chronicle • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Politico • The Week • Chicago Public Library • BookPage • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly • Booklist • Shelf Awareness
WINNER OF: The National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction • The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction • The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • The Hillman Prize for Book Journalism • The PEN/New England Award • The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize
FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE AND THE KIRKUS PRIZE
“Evicted stands among the very best of the social justice books.”—Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto and Commonwealth
“Gripping and moving—tragic, too.”—Jesmyn Ward, author of Salvage the Bones
“Evicted is that rare work that has something genuinely new to say about poverty.”—San Francisco Chronicle
more
I’m working my way through this right now. Fascinating, pressing, and absolutely heartbreaking. I’d love to pass my copy along to anyone interested
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/books/evicted-book-review-matthew-desmond.html?_r=0
This showed me the reality of being trapped in the cycle of poverty and homelessness, and how the system (& those in control) has helped keep many people there. Very eye-opening.
A great picture of the bleak future that many people are facing in this day of extreme rates in the rental market and the impossible barriers to home ownership among low wage workers.
This is a book of TRUTH! A truth about which most of us know absolutely NADA!
It was difficult 2 realize that I WAS reading about the Actual way so many exist in this country & how easily others take such great advantage of the same.
I believe every high school child should have to read this and definitely every college Sociology major!
I will Never forget the words within these pages And only wish there might B a follow up book reversing these facts.
Sally A Veauta
If I were making a list of the books you can’t miss to understand current affairs, this one would very likely be at the top of that list. Mr. Desmond has produced a thoroughly detailed, analyzed and documented picture of the horrible cycle of poverty that today a huge shadow under the American dream. The writing is brilliant but more compelling than that is the author’s complete immersion in this dark reality that thankfully most of those privileged to use a site like this will never know.
This should be mandatory reading for anyone who questions inequality, racism, or classism in America. It’s a horrible truth and one that looking away will never solve.
A well researched case study of eviction in Milwaukee. Desmond interviewed everyone involved in the process the renters, landlords, lawyers, judges, etc., to paint a complete picture of how poor people get trapped viciously cycling between substandard housing and homelessness. Children are the biggest losers.
Thought provoking
Lots of insight into poverty in a major USA city. I had a hard time understanding how it won a Pulitzer, but it did paint a dire portrait of inner city issues and how the story of poverty is multi-generational.
This is a biography from the author’s point of view of tenant and landlord life in inner city Milwaukee. He follows eight families as they go through the eviction process and try to get back on their feet. He also follows a few landlords who are responsible for those evictions. In the book he sets to proove that poverty stricken people – especially women and children – have an almost impossible time finding affordable housing that isn’t in crime infested neighborhoods. Even when they do find housing it is often without running water, or broken windows, or without appliances. He shows that the cycle of poverty is hard to break and how quickly things can get out of control.
I really liked this book. My husband and I are landlords, and we own 6 rental properties and have a total of 13 units. We have prided ourselves in buying these houses from slum lords (for the most part – not all) and turning them into nice places for people to live. When something breaks, we fix it immediately. We have hard and fast rules, but we expect respect from our tenants. In the four years we have been landlords, we have learned a lot of hard lessons, but now feel like we know what we are doing.
I was sickened by both sides of the stories in this book. The tenants – while poor and desolate – also were most times drug addicts or felons. Almost each story had a case where the tenant had made bad choices in their lives and they were paying for them. Hard. On the other hand – the two landlords they followed were definitely slum lords. And they weren’t ashamed of it. The conditions that these folks had to live in for $500-$600 a month was disgusting. Nothing ever got fixed – especially if the renter was behind on their rent. The landlords were painted that getting rent was their only priority – not making nice places for people to live.
Respect begets respect. If the landlords don’t respect the tenants, the tenants don’t respect the property. And round and round it goes. Sure – we are not talking about Harvard graduates in these apartments, but everyone deserves a nice place to live. If people are helped back on their feet and given a chance to “make good”, then things would turn around for both sides of this story. But neither side is interested. The renters want something for nothing and the landlords want their money for nothing. It is a crazy cycle.
Mat and I got into this business because we wanted to give people a nice place to live. We wanted to rid our home town of slum lords and encourage good people to move into these neighborhoods. In the case of this book – I don’t see anything but a broken cycle that just makes you want to tear your hair out.
The author won a Pulitzer award for this book about poverty, slum lords and folks barely scraping by in a major USA city. The endless cycle of crappy jobs, food stamps, too many children to support well and all the mayhem that ensues with these issues is recounted in this book. Author follows several families living in crumby apartments and their never changing stories. I didn’t know whether to be depressed or angry (maybe some of each). NO easy answers here, just the facts.
Well written study of landlords and tenants in one city of why tenants are evicted and the impact it has.
Matthew Desmond, a recent Pulitzer prize winner for his book and a discoverer of yet another twist in our search for the causes and solutions of poverty. “Evicted” broke my heart because it took the incredible back-breaking burden of blame (self and societal blame) off of the victims and showed the incredible boulders that they are pushing uphill in order to try and overcome the hurdles he highlights in his study. It broke my heart too because I am one of the people affected by this crisis, along with other members of my family. I know personally what these people are going through. I found out that I wasn’t so great and grand that it couldn’t happen to me. I am finding out that it is no fun to live out of a car due to being evicted, and having health issues that contribute to my problems.
His book was a very easy read. It’s a very personal story and he seems to be a very sensitive person. He even seemed to suffer, after leaving the situations and going back to his academic world, some kind of survivor’s guilt, at least to some extent. Yet he seemed to be able to keep it as academic as possible, trying to give even coverage to those evicted and those who profit from the evictions.
I’ve seen so many of these stories in my own neighborhoods, as have many others. We’ve been verbally abused by others who say it’s our fault. I can’t recommend this book enough if you want to get an understanding of another piece of the puzzle that is contributing to the downfall of our society. When the bottom completely collapses, what then? Don’t learn about it too late. Don’t contribute to the solution too late. It can easily happen to you.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City is a tough but important story of poverty stricken Americans barely living in the slums of Milwaukee, WI. Pulitzer winner Matthew Desmond follows the lives of eight families renting “homes” in the slums of Milwaukee and the landlords they rent from. These people face rent fees that are often more than their income and their homes are in some of the worse conditions that anyone could imagine. When unable to come up with the needed funds for another month, many find themselves trying to decide between rent, food, or utilities. They are eventually evicted and added to eviction records that follow them to their next destination. Many times, the rent costs are the same or just below what one would find in a middle class area of town. The difference? Finding the landlord that will rent to someone with a past, with an eviction record, and without verifiable income. These landlords rarely keep up repairs and necessary work on their properties unless they know they have a decent tenant that will pay on time and consistently. It is a game that landlords and renters play. Many find themselves in holes that they can never climb out of but a few are able to persevere and beat the odds.
If nothing else, this book will bring to light an area of American life that is often ignored and make the case for affordable housing in the United States. The current programs to help the homeless and near homeless do not work well. Reform is desperately needed. Desmond does offer his idea of expanding the current voucher system that would eradicate the slums and put slum lords out of business. His idea would offer hope for many and give these people a chance to change their circumstances.