Every book I've read about recent poverty have either been sociological/historical texts or books written by journalist types, where they are telling a group of someones' stories for them, through interviews or via "I went undercover in this group and this is what I learned." The problem with the latter is that it only sees a slice of those lives and cannot encompass all the elements/variables in the equation. It's a type of problem that would require millions of inputs and a very well written regression analysis program - which I learned the basics of doing in econometrics class and I am so not worthy of doing that.
The prior example are sometimes very well written, but the average person isn't going to come across them in the ordinary course of their lives, unless they get introduced to it via a very specifically focused history professor. My favorite of the bunch is The Other America (http://www.amazon.com/Other-America-Poverty-United-States-ebook/dp/B007BP3VLW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420681781&sr=8-1&keywords=the+other+america). I first was introduced to it in a summer session American History course and I identified with it deeply. It has a great description of not only the structural underpinnings of poverty in the U.S. but also points to why some people pull themselves out of it and how, the more generations are caught up in it the harder it is for an individual to get out without a great deal of support nets, education, and outreach. My initial reaction upon reaching the last page was to set the book carefully down and think about how it BLEW MY MIND.
Where was I? Oh yes. People's personal stories about poverty and hardship. The stories, when they are shown as episodes of someone's life instead of an overall arc with redemption and triumph at the end (if it even occurs) can be a real downer and I don't know if there's a "market" for it. Maybe someone needs to write poverty's Silent Spring. But the biggest issue for the prospective writer of said book would be that there would have to be a groundswell, a movement inspired by it, and change engendered by it, just like with Silent Spring. And there is no guarantees of that.
Have I written a blog post's worth of thought in my reply to you? Why yes, I believe I have! *grins*
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Oh my stars and garters.
Date: 2015-01-08 02:00 am (UTC)The prior example are sometimes very well written, but the average person isn't going to come across them in the ordinary course of their lives, unless they get introduced to it via a very specifically focused history professor. My favorite of the bunch is The Other America (http://www.amazon.com/Other-America-Poverty-United-States-ebook/dp/B007BP3VLW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420681781&sr=8-1&keywords=the+other+america). I first was introduced to it in a summer session American History course and I identified with it deeply. It has a great description of not only the structural underpinnings of poverty in the U.S. but also points to why some people pull themselves out of it and how, the more generations are caught up in it the harder it is for an individual to get out without a great deal of support nets, education, and outreach. My initial reaction upon reaching the last page was to set the book carefully down and think about how it BLEW MY MIND.
Where was I? Oh yes. People's personal stories about poverty and hardship. The stories, when they are shown as episodes of someone's life instead of an overall arc with redemption and triumph at the end (if it even occurs) can be a real downer and I don't know if there's a "market" for it. Maybe someone needs to write poverty's Silent Spring. But the biggest issue for the prospective writer of said book would be that there would have to be a groundswell, a movement inspired by it, and change engendered by it, just like with Silent Spring. And there is no guarantees of that.
Have I written a blog post's worth of thought in my reply to you? Why yes, I believe I have! *grins*