'Essential. A compelling and damning exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter.' Owen Jones
Arleen spends nearly all her money on rent but is kicked out with her kids in Milwaukee's coldest winter for years. Doreen's home is so filthy her family call it 'the rat hole'. Lamar, a wheelchair-bound ex-soldier, tries to work his way out of debt for his boys. Scott, a nurse turned addict, lives in a gutted-out trailer. This is their world. And this is the twenty-first century: where fewer and fewer people can afford a simple roof over their head.
From abandoned slums to shelters, eviction courts to ghettoes, Matthew Desmond spent years living with and recording the stories of those struggling to survive - yet who won't give up. A work of love, care and humanity, Evicted reminds us why, without a home, nothing else is possible. It is one of the most necessary books of our time.
'This is an extraordinary and crucial piece of work. Read it. Please, read it' - Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author of Random Family
'Sensitive, achingly beautiful' - Robert D. Putnam, author of Our Kids
Evicted will give you a view into an America you likely don't know. It's by turns informative, frustrating, and heartbreaking, a view into the poor and homeless or homeless-to-be in Milwaukee, due to eviction and the surrounding issues of poverty and drug abuse.
Our housing system and eviction process is a (perhaps the) major factor, but reading the stories of these unfortunate folks it's hard to help noticing how much of this they bring on themselves by bad choices. A tough problem to solve.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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4 January, 2018:
Finished reading
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4 January, 2018:
Reviewed