Synopses & Reviews
"In
Where We Live Now, John Iceland documents the levels and changes in residential segregation of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans from Census 2000. Although the concentration of new immigrants in neighborhoods with more co-ethnics temporarily increases segregation, there is a clear trend toward lowered residential segregation of native born Hispanics and Asians, especially for those with higher socioeconomic status. There has been a modest decrease in black-white segregation, especially in multi-ethnic cities, but African Americans, including black immigrants, continue to experience much higher levels of housing discrimination than any other group. These important findings are clearly explained in a well written story of the continuing American struggle to live the promise of E Pluribus Unum."and#151;Charles Hirschman, University of Washington
"Where We Live Now puts on dazzling display all the virtues of rigorous social science to go beyond mere headlines about contemporary American neighborhoods. Iceland's book reveals much more complex developments than can be summarized in a simple storyline and dissects them with admirable precision to identify their dynamics and implications. The reader comes away with a more sophisticated understanding of the ways in which residential patterns are moving in the direction of the American ideal of integration and the ways in which they come grossly short of it."and#151;Richard Alba, co-author of Remaking the American Mainstream
"A unique work that takes on immigration, race and ethnicity in a novel way. It presents cutting-edge research and scholarship in a manner that policy makers and other nonspecialist social scientists can easily see how the trends he examines are reshaping American life."and#151;Andrew A. Beveridge, Queens College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York
and#147;This is the new major book about racial residential segregation; one that will influence research in this field for several decades. Using new measures, John Iceland convincingly shows that the Asian and Hispanic immigrants who are arriving in large numbers gradually adopt the residential patterns of whites. The presence of many immigrants, he demonstrates, is also linked to declining black-white segregation. His analysis shows that the era of 'white flight' has ended since many racially mixed neighborhoods now are stable over time. This careful analysis cogently explains how race, economic status, nativity and length of residence in the United States contribute to declining residential segregation. Future investigators who conduct research about racial and ethnic residential patterns will begin by citing Iceland's Where We Live Now.and#8221;and#151;Reynolds Farley, Research Scientist, University of Michigan Population Studies Center
"Where We Live Now is both a very timely and highly significant study of changes in living patterns among racial/ethnic groups in the United States, showing how such groups are being affected by immigration, and what this means for racial/ethnic relations today and tomorrow. This book is a must-read for all persons interested in the country's new diversity."and#151;Frank D. Bean, Director, Center for Research on Immigration
"In Where We Live Now, John Iceland paints a clear yet nuanced picture of the complex racial and ethnic residential landscape that characterizes contemporary metropolitan America. No other book of which I am aware places residential segregation so squarely or effectively in the context of immigration-fueled diversity. Thanks to its rare blend of theoretical insight, empirical rigor, and readability, Where We Live Now should appeal to audiences ranging from research and policy experts to undergraduate students."and#151;Barrett Lee, Professor of Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University
Review
"'Someplace Like America' is unrelenting prose. . . . There's something doggedly heroic in this commitment to one of journalism's least glamorous, least remunerative subjects."
Review
and#8220;Evokes the Depression-era collaboration of Walker Evans and James Agee.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Deserves high praise . . . . Undeniable relevance to todayand#8217;s American experience.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Maharidgeand#8217;s straightforward-but-impassioned prose and Williamsonand#8217;s gritty black-and white photographs make you angry. Theyand#8217;re an indictment.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A well-documented study. . . . Recommended.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Supremely well researched, drawing on an impressive selection of studies.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The book is lucid and well structured.and#8221;
Synopsis
Portrait of America describes our nationand#8217;s changing population and examines through a demographic lens some of our most pressing contemporary challenges, ranging from poverty and economic inequality to racial tensions and health disparities. Celebrated author
John Iceland covers various topics, including America's historical demographic growth; the American family today; gender inequality; economic well-being; immigration and diversity; racial and ethnic inequality; internal migration and residential segregation; and health and mortality.
The discussion of these topics is informed by several sources, including an examination of household survey data, and by syntheses of existing published material, both quantitative and qualitative. Iceland discusses the current issues and controversies around these themes, highlighting their role in everyday debates taking place in Congress, the media, and in American living rooms. Each chapter includes historical background, as well as a discussion of how patterns and trends in the United States compare to those in peer countries.
Synopsis
"
Portrait of America is solidly grounded in the most recent empirical work on the various topics and is presented in a well-written, accessible style."and#151;Stewart Tolnay,and#160;S. Frank Miyamoto Professor of Sociology at theand#160;University of Washington and author ofand#160;
The Bottom Rung: African Americanand#160;Family Life on Southern Farms "In Portrait of America, John Iceland offers a lucid overview of major social changes in American history, with a focus on contemporary patterns of family complexity, widening inequality, increasing ethnic diversity, and improving health. Demographic data are displayed in readable charts to present the foundation of his book, but Iceland explains and interprets the facts with international and temporal comparisons, social theories, and journalistic illustrations. All this makes for an interesting, informative, and compelling read."and#151;Charles Hirschman, Boeing International Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, University of Washington
and#147;I am using A Portrait of America in my undergrad demography class this semester, and plan to continue using it. It is quite good and provides the kind of depth and information about demographic dynamics in the US that I want my students to have. And it is current and up to date. I have 110 students each semester in the class, and I plan to keep using it.and#8221;and#151;Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Professor of Sociology and Abell Professor of Liberal Arts, Department of Sociology, Texas AandM University
Synopsis
The United States is among the most affluent nations in the world and has its largest economy; nevertheless, it has more poverty than most countries with similar standards of living. Growing income inequality and the Great Recession have made the problem worse. In this thoroughly revised edition of Poverty in America, Iceland takes a new look at this issue by examining why poverty remains pervasive, what it means to be poor in America today, which groups are most likely to be poor, the root causes of poverty, and the effects of policy on poverty. This new edition also includes completely updated data and extended discussions of poverty in the context of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements as well as new chapters on the Great Recession and global poverty. In doing so this book provides the most recent information available on patterns and trends in poverty and engages in an open and accessible manner in current critical debates.
Synopsis
and#147;John Iceland combines statistical data, theoretical arguments, and historical information in a book that is highly readable. An excellent overview of the dimensions and sources of American poverty.and#8221;and#151;William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
"[Poverty in America] is comprehensive, easily accessible, up-to-date, and has a vast reference section for those who want even more detail. It could serve as a textbook for upper level undergraduate or graduate courses, or as a reference book for instructors trying to construct undergraduate lectures. It is an intelligent, balanced, and carefully researched handbook."and#151;Social Forces
"Poverty, one of the most heavily researched issues in our society, is, ironically also one of the most politicized. In an effort to cut through the thicket of data, studies, rhetoric, and myths, John Iceland has produced a concise book that helps us analyze current thinking."and#151;Contemporary Sociology
and#160;
Synopsis
In
Someplace Like America, writer Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael S. Williamson take us to the working-class heart of America, bringing to lifeand#151;through shoe leather reporting, memoir, vivid stories, stunning photographs, and thoughtful analysisand#151;the deepening crises of poverty and homelessness. The story begins in 1980, when the authors joined forces to cover the America being ignored by the mainstream mediaand#151;people living on the margins and losing their jobs as a result of deindustrialization. Since then, Maharidge and Williamson have traveled more than half a million miles to investigate the state of the working class (winning a Pulitzer Prize in the process). In
Someplace Like America, they follow the lives of several families over the thirty-year span to present an intimate and devastating portrait of workers going jobless. This brilliant and essential studyand#151;begun in the trickle-down Reagan years and culminating with the recent banking catastropheand#151;puts a human face on todayand#8217;s grim economic numbers. It also illuminates the courage and resolve with which the next generation faces the future.
Synopsis
and#147;Someplace Like America is unrelenting prose, not poetry, but what the book lacks in intimacy it makes up for in breadth and persistence. There's something doggedly heroic in this commitment to one of journalism's least glamorous, least remunerative subjects.and#8221;
and#150;George Packer, The New Yorker
and#147;These boys saw the floorboards giving out while the rest of America danced in the pig and whistle. Maharidge and Williamson have a document here that may be even more important in a generation than it is today.and#8221;and#151;Charlie LeDuff, author of Work and Other Sins: Life in New York City and Thereabouts
and#147;Through the voices and stories of working-class people, Maharidge and Williamson provide insight into the current situation, reminding us of the history of economic struggle and the importance of understanding our culture from the bottom up.and#8221; and#151;John Russo, co-author of Steeltown U.S.A.: Work and Memory in Youngstown
and#147;This is a deeply felt and beautifully crafted book. Maharidge and Williamson are brave and clear-eyed in chronicling the struggle of Americaand#8217;s workers.and#8221; and#151;Todd DePastino, author of Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America
"In this moving and urgent book, Maharidge and Williamson continue to dig through the social wreckage of three decades of economic plunder, courageously documenting the uprooted and displaced, the uncertain and the fearful. Someplace Like America peers into the dark heart of a society that has turned its back on working people--and that may be on the cusp of abandoning its dignity as well. In the smoldering occupational ruins of what once was, Maharidge also manages to find hopeful embers of what might one day be. A disturbing retrospective on twenty-five years of reporting on the long-term dissolution of the American dream." and#151;Jefferson Cowie, Cornell University, author of Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class
and#160;
Synopsis
Poverty may have always been with us, but it hasn't always been the same. In an in-depth look at trends, patterns, and causes of poverty in the United States, John Iceland combines the latest statistical information, historical data, and social scientific theory to provide a comprehensive picture of poverty in Americaand#151;a picture that shows how poverty is measured and understood and how this has changed over time, as well as how public policies have grappled with poverty as a political issue and an economic reality.
Why does poverty remain so pervasive? Is it unavoidable? Are people from particular racial or ethnic backgrounds or family types inevitably more likely to be poor? What can we expect over the next few years? What are the limits of policy? These are just a few of the questions this book addresses. In a remarkably concise, readable, and accessible format, Iceland explores what the statistics and the historical record, along with most of the major works on poverty, tell us. At the same time, he advances arguments about the relative nature and structural causes of povertyand#151;arguments that eloquently contest conventional wisdom about the links between individual failure, family breakdown, and poverty in America. At a time when the personal, political, social, and broader economic consequences of poverty are ever clearer and more pressing, the depth and breadth of understanding offered by this handbook should make it an essential resource and reference for all scholars, politicians, policymakers, and people of conscience in America.
Synopsis
"This volume is an excellent overview of the dimensions and sources of American poverty. John Iceland combines statistical data, theoretical arguments, and historical information in a book that is highly readable and will very likely become a standard reference for students of poverty."and#151;William Julius Wilson, author of
When Work Disappears"In just a few short pages, Iceland brings anyone--lay reader, student, professional researcher--up to speed on the major issues and debates about poverty in America. With succinct and engaging prose, Poverty in America covers the gamut--from theoretical issues to measurement to history to public policy--better than any other book out there right now."and#151;Dalton Conley, author of Honky
"Must reading on a tough and important topic. With some answers that may surprise, Iceland sorts out competing theories of why people are poor in the richest country in the world. His book should motivate every reader--policy maker, researcher, citizen-- to think hard about what it means to be poor today and how our society can best reduce the hardship and poverty still with us."and#151;Constance F. Citro, National Research Council of the National Academies, Washington, D.C.
Synopsis
In a remarkably concise, readable, and accessible format, John Iceland provides a comprehensive picture of poverty in America, He shows how poverty is measured and understood and how it has changed over time, as well as how public policies have grappled with poverty as a political issue and an economic reality. This edition has been updated and includes a new preface.
Synopsis
Praise for the first edition:and#147;Highly readable. Will very likely become a standard reference for students of poverty.and#8221;and#151;William Julius Wilson, author of When Work Disappears
and#147;With succinct and engaging prose, Poverty in America covers the gamut and#151;from theoretical issues to measurement to history to public policyand#151;better than any other book out there right now.and#8221;and#151;Dalton Conley, author of Honky
Synopsis
Where We Live Now explores the ways in which immigration is reshaping American neighborhoods. In his examination of residential segregation patterns, John Iceland addresses these questions: What evidence suggests that immigrants are assimilating residentially? Does the assimilation process change for immigrants of different racial and ethnic backgrounds? How has immigration affected the residential patterns of native-born blacks and whites? Drawing on census data and information from other ethnographic and quantitative studies, Iceland affirms that immigrants are becoming residentially assimilated in American metropolitan areas. While the future remains uncertain, the evidence provided in the book suggests that America's metropolitan areas are not splintering irrevocably into hostile, homogeneous, and ethnically based neighborhoods. Instead, Iceland's findings suggest a blurring of the American color line in the coming years and indicate that as we become more diverse, we may in some important respects become less segregated.
Synopsis
Can philanthropy alleviate inequality? Do antipoverty programs work on the ground? In this eye-opening analysis, Erica Kohl-Arenas bores deeply into how these issues play out in California’s Central Valley, which is one of the wealthiest agricultural production regions in the world and also home to the poorest people in the United States.
Through the lens of a provocative set of case studies, The Self-Help Myth reveals how philanthropy maintains systems of inequality by attracting attention to the behavior of poor people while shifting the focus away from structural inequities and relationships of power that produce poverty. In Fresno County, for example, which has a $5.6 billion-plus agricultural industry, migrant farm workers depend heavily on food banks, religious organizations, and family networks to feed and clothe their families. Foundation professionals espouse well-intentioned, hopeful strategies to improve the lives of the poor. These strategies contain specific ideas—in philanthropy terminology, “theories of change”— that rely on traditional American ideals of individualism and hard work, such as self-help, civic participation, and mutual prosperity. But when used in partnership with well-defined limits around what foundations will and will not fund, these ideals become fuzzy concepts promoting professional and institutional behaviors that leave relationships of poverty and inequality untouched.
Synopsis
"In a field dominated by shallow analysis and self-promotion,
The Self Help Myth stands out as a model of engaged and critical scholarship. Beautifully written and carefully researched, this book is a must-read for anyone concerned with transforming philanthropy into a genuine force for social change."—Michael Edwards, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos
"The Self-Help Myth offers a stunning example of the failure of philanthrocapitalism and NGO humanitarianism to solve long-standing problems of poverty in America among migrant farmworkers. Using history and ethnography, Kohl-Arenas shows in gripping detail how oppositional tactics become entangled in day-to-day policy-making practices, reducing real labor crises to rhetorical problems of innovation, self-help and cooperation—the ultimate co-optation of political resistance. This book provides a critical missing link in the literature that critically scrutinizes neoliberal tactics for provisioning the safety net in America."—Vincanne Adams, Professor of Medical Anthropology, University of California, San Francisco, and author of Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith
"The Self-Help Myth goes beyond simplistic dichotomies of philanthropic empowerment and cooptation to vividly convey the complex realities and on-the-ground power dynamics behind the funder’s rhetoric. Kohl-Arenas combines nuanced ethnography and compelling historical analysis to show how the structural interests of philanthropic foundations remain at odds with their stated goals to reduce poverty and inequality."—Alyosha Goldstein, Associate Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico, and author of Poverty in Common: The Politics of Community Action during the American Century
About the Author
John Iceland is Head of the Department of Sociology and Professor of Sociology and Demography at Penn State University. His research focuses on poverty, immigration, and racial and ethnic residential segregation issues. His latest books are Poverty in America: A Handbook, Third Edition and Where We Live Now: Immigration and Race in the United States, both from University of California Press.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Bruce Springsteen
Someplace Like America: An Introduction
Snapshots from the Road, 2009
Part 1. America Begins a Thirty-Year Journey to Nowhere: The 1980s
1. On Becoming a Hobo
2. Necropolis
3. New Timer
4. Home Sweet Tent
5. True Bottom
Part 2. The Journey Continues: The 1990s
6. Inspiration: The Two-Way Highway
7. Waiting for an Explosion
8. When Bruce Met Jenny
Part 3. A Nation Grows Hungrier: 2
9. Hunger in the Homes
10. The Working Poor: Maggie and the Invisible Children
11. Mr. Murray on Maggie
Part 4. Updating People and Places: The Late 2s
12. Reinduction
13. Necropolis: After the Apocalypse
14. New Timer: Finding Mr. Heisenberg Instead
15. Home Sweet Tent Home
16. Maggie: and#147;Am I Doing the Right Thing?and#8221;
17. Maggie on Mr. Murray
Part 5. America with the Lid Ripped Off: The Late 2s
18. Search and Rescue
19. New Orleans Jazz
20. Scapegoats in the Sun
21. The Dark Experiment
22. The Big Boys
23. Anger in Suburban New Jersey
Part 6. Rebuilding Ourselves, Then Taking America on a Journey to Somewhere New
24. Zen in a Crippled New Hampshire Mill Town
25. A Woman of the Soil in Kansas City
26. The Phoenix?
27. Looking Forwardand#151;and Back
Coda
Acknowledgments and Credits
Notes