EVICTED

2015 MacArthur Genius award winner Matthew Desmond is an associate professor of sociology and social science at Harvard University and codirector of the Justice and Poverty Project. He is the author of the awardwinning book On The Fireline and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune.An intimate portrait of what its like to be powerless in the worlds superpower ... Evicted shows how the smallest event can rip through poor lives sending them spinning out of control... To British eyes the narrative reads like a dispatch from the nearfuture.For the two or three weeks I was reading the book it formed my topic of conversation with friends and at night when I went to sleep it filled my thoughts ... It makes you aware of how complicated the webs holding you up are.A monumental and vivid study of urban poverty ... Evicted demands attention. It shines a klieg light on a dark corner of the American experienceHeartbreaking... Desmonds acute observational skills his facility with reported dialogue and his ability to wrench chaotic stories into clear prose make Evicted a vivid if sometimes gruelling read... with UK house prices unaffordable a dearth of council housing and a Government committed to austerity Evicted serves as a warning as to what happens when a society refuses to recognise the fundamental human right to shelterA remarkable ethnography ... [Desmond] has a novelists eye for the telling detail and a keen ear for dialogue ... This is a significant literary achievement as well as a feat of reporting underpinned by statistical labourAstonishing ... Desmond has set a new standard for reporting on povertyAn extraordinary ethnographic study... Desmond takes people who are usually seen as worthless and shows us their full humanity ... By examining one city through the microscopic lens of housing he shows us how the system that produces that pain and poverty was created and is maintained*WINNER OF THE 2017 PULITZER PRIZE FOR NONFICTION* Beautifully written thoughtprovoking and unforgettable ... If you want a good understanding of how the issues that cause poverty are intertwined you should read this book Bill Gates Best Books of 2017Arleen spends nearly all her money on rent but is kicked out with her kids in Milwaukees coldest winter for years. Doreens home is so filthy her family call it the rat hole. Lamar a wheelchairbound exsoldier tries to work his way out of debt for his boys. Scott a nurse turned addict lives in a guttedout trailer. This is their world. And this is the twentyfirst century: where fewer and fewer people can afford a simple roof over their head.Essential. A compelling and damning exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter. Owen JonesIf I could require the president to read one book it would be Evicted Zadie Smith