Synopses & Reviews
Tens of millions of Americans currently live in poverty, more and more of them in extreme poverty. But the words we use to describe them tend to obscure rather than illuminate the human lives and real-life stories behind the statistics.
A sympathetic social history that allows poor people, past and present, to tell their own remarkably similar stories” (Booklist), A Peoples History of Poverty in America movingly brings to life poor peoples everyday battles for dignity and respect in the face of the judgment, control, and disdain that are all too often the price they must pay for charity and government aid.
Through prodigious research, Stephen Pimpare has unearthed poignant and often surprising testimonies and accounts that range from the early days of the United States to the complex social and economic terrain of the present. A work of sweeping analysis, A Peoples History of Poverty in America reminds us that poverty is not in itself a moral failure, though our failure to understand it may well be.
Review
[A] sympathetic social history that allows poor people, past and present, to tell their own remarkably similar stories.
—Booklist
A concise and distinctive bottom–up history.
—Library Journal
The voices of the poor give valuable insights into the experience of poverty.
—Choice
[A] deft and highly readable weaving of historical and contemporary material . . . . This is exactly the history that needs to be uncovered in America today.
—Socialist Worker
Review
Reveals not only the terrible want but the sharply punishing indignity of being poor in a culture that celebrates affluence.”
—Frances Fox Piven, author of Poor Peoples Movements
The voices of the poor give valuable insights into the experience of poverty.”
—Choice
A must read for anyone interested in learning the real story of poverty, social welfare policy, and social change.”
—Mimi Abramovitz, Hunter College School of Social Work and the Graduate Center, CUNY
A concise and distinctive bottom-up history.”
—Library Journal
This book is long overdue. Stephen Pimpare reveals how long-standing American societal prejudices have led to poverty policy that regulates, exploits, and dehumanizes the poor rather than addressing the root causes.”
—Sondra Youdelman, Community Voices Heard
Synopsis
In
A Peoples History of Poverty in America, political scientist Stephen Pimpare brings the human lives and real-life stories of those who struggle with poverty in America to the foreground, vividly describing life as poor and welfare-reliant Americans experience it, from the big city to the rural countryside. Prodigiously researched,
A Peoples History of Poverty in America unearths rich, poignant, and often surprising testimoniesboth heart-wrenching and humorousthat range from the early days of the United States to the present day. Pimpare shows us how the poor have found food, secured shelter, and created community, and, most important, he illuminates their battles for dignity and respect in the face of the judgment, control, and disdain that are all too often the price they must pay for charity and government aid.
In telling these hidden stories, Pimpare argues eloquently for a fundamental rethinking of poverty, one that includes both a more nuanced understanding of the history of the American welfare state, and a meaningfuland truly accuratenew definition of the poverty line. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as an illuminating history of Americas poor” and a useful counter against those who blame the poor for their bad luck,” A Peoples History of Poverty in America reminds us that poverty is not in itself a moral failure, but our failure to understand it may well be.
About the Author
Stephen Pimpare is the author of The New Victorians: Poverty, Politics, and Propaganda in Two Gilded Ages (The New Press).