Abramsky has written an ambitious book that both describes and prescribes. He reaches across a wised range of issues-including education, housing and criminal justice- in a sweeping panorama of poverty's elements. Assembling them in one volume forces him to be superficial on occasion, but that price is worth paying to get the broad scope... Abramsky has invited serious rethinking and issued a significant call to action. --David Shipler, New York Times Book Review [An] extraordinary book... extremely well researched and thorough... --Los Angeles Review of Books Abramsky's approach is both heartbreaking in its look at the humans who are affected and inspiring in his explanations of how poverty can be addressed and improved... The American Way of Poverty is likely to cause fear--almost no one is exempt from unplanned disasters--but it is also likely to motivate: there are answers; this country can and should improve. Well researched and documented, Abramsky's eye-opening book should be required reading for all U.S. citizens. --Shelf Awareness [A] searing expose... Abramsky's is a challenging indictment of an economy in which poverty and inequality at the bottom seem like the foundation for prosperity at the top. --Publishers Weekly, (starred review) [This] portrait of poverty is one of great complexity and diversity, existential loneliness and desperation--but also amazing resilience...Abramsky's well-researched, deeply felt depiction of poverty is eye-opening, and his outrage is palpable. He aims to stimulate discussion, but whether his message provokes action remains to be seen. --Kirkus Reviews Abramsky's portraits of the poor illustrate three striking points: the isolation, diversity-people with no jobs and people with multiple jobs-and resilience of the poor. Drawing on ideas from a broad array of equality advocates, Abramsky offers detailed policies to address poverty, including reform in education, immigration, energy, taxation, criminal justice, housing, Social Security, and Medicaid, as well as analysis of tax and spending policies that could reduce inequities. --Booklist Sasha Abramsky takes us deep into the long dark night of poverty in America, and it's a harrowing trip. His research and remarkable insights have resulted in a book that is stunning in its intensity. --Bob Herbert, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and former Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times Incisive and necessary, The American Way of Poverty is a call to action. --Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright This is a devastating, passionate, and important investigative work. --Joe Sacco, author of Palestine, Footnotes in Gaza, and co-author of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt This urgent and compassionate inquiry breaks the pact of silence in which politicians refuse to talk about poverty and journalists refuse to investigate it. The spirit of Studs Terkel lives on in Sasha Abramsky. He listens to ordinary Americans speak hauntingly about their struggles to survive in a social welfare system designed by Franz Kafka. Every page reports an outrage, a chord in what might have become a requiem for the American Dream, were it not for Abramsky's conviction that change is possible. --Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved and The Value of Nothing Sasha Abramsky writes compellingly and correctly that poverty is the 'canary' in the coal mine of our democracy. Moving stories are the fabric of the story of what we face as a nation as income disparity continues to increase. But this is more than a lament! It is a policy roadmap to reclaiming the most vibrant part of our nation: 'We the People.' --Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director of NETWORK and leader of the Nuns on the Bus
