State Poverty

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a “provocative and compelling” (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The New...

Trattner provides in-depth examination of developments in child welfare, public health, and the evolution of social work as a profession, showing how all these changes affected the treatment of the poor and needy in America. He explores the impact of public policies on social workers and other helping professions - all against the backdrop of social and intellectual trends in American history. From Poor Law to Welfare State directly addresses racism and sexism and pays special attention to the worsening problems of child abuse, neglect, and homelessness. 

The definitive biography of country legend Merle Haggard by the New York Times bestselling biographer of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, The Eagles, and more. Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. His astonishing musical career stretched across the...

This instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller from one of the world’s leading economists offers a grand narrative of the century that made us richer than ever, but left us unsatisfied. “A magisterial history.” —Paul Krugman Named a Best Book of the Year by Financial...

An enlightening and personal daily account of the experience of the Great Depression in the midwest, full of anxieties about the economic future, with powerful echoes for today. "Compelling." —New York Times In the early 1920s, Benjamin Roth was a young lawyer fresh out of the army. He settled...

One of the most pernicious and persistent myths in the United States is the association of Black skin with poverty. Though there are forty million more poor white people than Black people, most Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, continue to think of poverty—along with issues like welfare, unemployment, and food stamps—as solely a Black problem. Why is this so? What are the historical causes? And what are the political consequences that result?

Theodore Dalrymple, a British psychiatrist who treats the poor in a slum hospital and a prison in England, has seemingly seen it all. Yet in listening to and observing his patients, he is continually astonished by the latest twist of depravity that exceeds even his own considerable experience. Dalrymple's key insight in Life at the Bottom is that long-term poverty is caused not by economics, but by a dysfunctional set of values, one that is continually reinforced by an elite culture searching for victims.  

At the age of 14, Francisco Jiménez, together with his older brother Roberto and his mother, are caught by la migra. Forced to leave their home, the entire family travels all night for 20 hours by bus, arriving at the U.S. and Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona. In the months and years that follow, Francisco, his mother and father, and his seven brothers and sister not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice.

What does “privilege” mean when you grow up in a coal camp at the edge of a river that floods, in a county the rest of the country only remembers during disaster? In Appalachian Privilege: The Story of Nobody, W. D. Marcum tells the deeply personal story of a coal miner’s son from Logan County, West Virginia, who leaves home in search of something larger—only to discover that leaving is never simple. From a 934-square-foot company house to the deck of a U.S. Navy frigate sailing foreign waters… From blocking roads during coal strikes to dining in the Inns of Court in London…

The Pharmaceutical State: How Governments and Corporations Turned Human Beings into Raw Material When a military veteran walked into the VA seeking help, he was offered a prescription instead of a conversation. That moment sparked a year-long investigation into a question most people never think to ask: How did we get here? The Pharmaceutical State traces a documented, unbroken line of medical exploitation from the plantation laboratories of the antebellum South to the strip-mall plasma centers of modern America. Drawing on declassified government records, congressional testimony, Nuremberg...

A Braver, Safer, More Responsible, Deglobalised and Honourable World. Introducing Small State Conservative Socialism, a revolutionary new form of true democracy that will end corruption, crime, lawlessness, riots and demonstrations, illegal immigration, poverty, home repossessions, war and political extremism. It should be possible to please all voters. And now it is. Small State Conservative Socialism means: More Democracy ✓ Less Crime ✓ More People Power ✓ Less Corruption ✓ More Peace and Order ✓ Less Extremism ✓ More Responsibility ✓ Less Taxation ✓ Chapters include: ...

READ BY THE AUTHOR The road to hell is paved with bad intentions, not good ones. In The Left's War on Reality, Michael Shellenberger and Alex Gutentag, two former progressives, delve into the unsettling truth behind the Left’s policies. What they uncover is far more troubling than mere...

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR An award-winning journalist’s powerful portrait of his native Baghdad, the people of Iraq, and twenty years of war. “An essential insider account of the unravelling of Iraq…Driven by his intimate knowledge and deep personal stakes, Abdul-Ahad…offers...

Economics is being revolutionized to the point it's becoming obsolete. With production techniques and technology allowing man to extract exponentially more wealth from finite resources, nearly all our earthly wants and desires are satisfied making the concept of “wealth” and “money” obsolete. But while you'd think such an economic miracle would be celebrated, humans are forever petty, forever greedy, and forever jealous. And instead of enjoying a life of leisure nearly every first-worlder is practically guaranteed to enjoy, most seethe with envy over the petty and minor differences ...

This updated book (11th edition published in March 2025) investigates the nature and origin of the highly destructive conflict in Afghanistan, involving both civil and international war, which has been an ongoing feature of the country since the Soviet invasion of 1979. It examines the anti-Soviet struggle of the 1980s, the vicious civil war and emergence of the Taliban in the 1990s, the 2001 US-led invasion to remove al-Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan and the dramatic collapse of the Afghan government as the Taliban swept to power once again in 2021. Decades of conflict have had ...

When the ultimate act of courage is choosing to live—and serve.. For too many American veterans, the return home initiates a new and terrifying battle, fought in silence against the crippling darkness of rage, trauma, and suicide. Courage: Courage is Rage in Action is the unflinching look at this national health crisis, yet it is also a story of extraordinary redemption. Through riveting, intimate accounts, this book reveals how a generation of veterans—facing the edge of despair—made the radical choice to transform their internal fury into a new, selfless mission: providing vital ...

“A lump of coal-taking up space,” is how a fourth-grade nun describes ten-year-old William Chamberlain. Despite his struggle with dyslexia, a precocious and rebellious spirit and labeled dumb, William vows to have money one day; he won’t be poor like his parents. As he grows into adulthood, nothing, not his lack of education, The Great Depression, World War II, or a bad marriage can deter him from seeking his dream. William possesses the innocence, naivety, and warmness of heart of a Forest Gump. This story of William and his family spans nearly three decades.

An American diplomat questioning his career choices meets an Uzbek woman living on the streets of Tashkent who does whatever it takes to survive. The tension is gripping and the temperature soars as the two size each other up and try to determine if they can trust each other for a single adventure that could change their lives.

When you are asked to name well-known presidents, your mind might immediately go to Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or the current president. Lyndon B. Johnson may not be on your list of greats, but he should be. He started out life in a poor family that did not have enough money for the bare necessities. As a boy barely old enough to start school, Johnson was already working to bring what little money he could to his family.

Read by the author, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. 'No home, no school, and especially no library should be without this story and this book' - Michael Morpurgo 'Original, surprising and compassionate without being earnest . . . Frank's book left me enraged, informed and moved' - Sathnam Sanghera 'Lively...