So Rich, So Poor

Why It's so Hard to End Poverty in America

Peter Edelman

• Publisher: The New Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781595589361
• eBook ISBN:
  9781595589576
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Macroeconomics
• Index: Social Sciences

“A competent, thorough assessment from a veteran expert in the field.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
Income disparities in our wealthy nation are wider than at any point since the Great Depression. The structure of today’s economy has stultified wage growth for half of America’s workers—with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color—while bestowing billions on the few at the very top.
 
In this “accessible and inspiring analysis”, lifelong anti-poverty advocate Peter Edelman assesses how the United States can have such an outsized number of unemployed and working poor despite important policy gains. He delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics and takes a particular look at young people of color, for whom the possibility of productive lives is too often lost on the way to adulthood (Angela Glover Blackwell).
 
For anyone who wants to understand one of the critical issues of twenty-first century America, So Rich, So Poor is “engaging and informative” (William Julius Wilson) and “powerful and eloquent” (Wade Henderson).

Table of contents

• Cover
• About the Author
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction to the Paperback Edition
• 1. A Snapshot of Our Current Mess
• 2. What We Have Accomplished
• 3. Why Are We Stuck?
• 4. Jobs: The Economy and Public Policy Go South (for Most of Us)
• 5. Deep Poverty: A Gigantic Hole in the Safety Net
• 6. Concentrated Poverty: “The Abandoned”
• 7. Young People: Improving the Odds
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index