If you don't know much about poverty, this book may prove useful to you, but go in with eyes open. Nevertheless, for a superb summary, look to: And sadly, those who need to hear this message the most will not read this book. The lessons he writes about are for all to consider. The reasons for poverty are intensely complex, and only through a holistic system of supports (including kinship, housing, healthcare, transportation, education, a fair wage, etc.) does anyone rise from poverty. Nor is it simply the consequence of a corrupt system. Poverty is not simply because of bad decisions (although this is definitely a contributor). Throughout the book, Shipler tells people's stories, describing what life is like being poor. However, he does so, not as much from the ivory tower of academics but rather through interviews with people from all over the country. Each chapter focuses on a different barrier for those at the financial bottom, painting a picture of the nature of poverty and the issues that keep so many down. His goal is to highlight America's disregard for the working poor and make visible those we often overlook. He forces his readers to see life through the eyes on those on margins of society. Nevertheless, David Shipler's The Working Poor is a powerful lesson of empathy. The author holds little back in describing the lives of the working poor, which can feel depressing, unsettling, and at times even hopeless. Let me begin by saying this book was not an easy read for me. It is a book that stands to make a difference. This impassioned book not only dissects the problems, but makes pointed, informed recommendations for change. We encounter them every day, for they do jobs essential to the American economy. Shipler exposes the interlocking problems by taking us into the sorrowful, infuriating, courageous lives of the poor-white and black, Asian and Latino, citizens and immigrants.

But their version of the American Dream is a nightmare: low-paying, dead-end jobs the profound failure of government to improve upon decaying housing, health care, and education the failure of families to break the patterns of child abuse and substance abuse. Shipler makes clear in this powerful, humane study, the invisible poor are engaged in the activity most respected in American ideology-hard, honest work.

From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Arab and Jew, an intimate portrait unfolds of working American families struggling against insurmountable odds to escape poverty.

The working poor by david k shipler