A review by sadietay
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

4.0

This book tackled the cruelty of American poverty in a bi-partisan, very well-researched way. The biggest thing I learned was just how much ALL Americans rely on government welfare money…such as tax breaks. I loved his focus on how he wishes “conscientious/activist-led consumerism” could reach to how businesses treat their low-income workers, just like buyers have started to make waves of changes for climate change and animal rights.

There were times where the rhetoric felt so persuasive that it felt like preaching to the choir. If you read a book about US poverty, odds are you already see the inequality as an issue and care about it.

“When we ignore the role that exploitation plays in trapping people in poverty, we end up trapping people in policy that are weak at best and ineffective at worst.”