Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Readers Guide Edition

 　　「如果我能要求總統讀一本書，這本書一定是《The Evicted》」─ 《白牙》莎娣‧史密斯

　　當擁有一片棲身屋簷，如此艱難─

　　洗一個舒服的澡、一張安睡的床，房屋作為構築一個家重要的物理要件，更是凝結歸屬感和社區意識的關鍵。但撐起頭頂的這一片屋頂，怎快成為人們的不可承受之重？當經濟困境倏地襲來，失去家的家庭，遭逢的不僅是財務上的損傷，更是全方位的連根拔起。來自美國的八個故事，直視貧窮帶來的流離，輕喚對於居住的省察。

　　詳細內容，請見Okapi 博客來外文年度選書介紹專文
　　okapi.books.com.tw/article/9279

　　Winner of 2017 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
　　Finalist for the 2016 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction
　　New York Times Bestseller

　　From Harvard sociologist and MacArthur ＂Genius＂ Matthew Desmond, a landmark work of scholarship and reportage that will forever change the way we look at poverty in America
 
　　In this brilliant,heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the ＄20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind.

　　The fates of these families are in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former schoolteacher turned inner-city entrepreneur, and Tobin Charney, who runs one of the worst trailer parks in Milwaukee. They loathe some of their tenants and are fond of others, but as Sherrena puts it, “Love don’t pay the bills.” She moves to evict Arleen and her boys a few days before Christmas.

　　Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. As we see families forced  into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America’s vast inequality—and to people’s determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.

　　Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, this masterful book transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.

　　REVIEWS

　　'Essential. A compelling and damning exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter.' - Owen Jones

　　'If I could require the president to read one book it would be Evicted' - Zadie Smith

作者簡介

　　Matthew Desmondis the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and codirector of the Justice and Poverty Project. A former member of the Harvard Society of Fellows, he is the author of the award-winning bookOn the Fireline, coauthor of two books on race, and editor of a collection of studies on severe deprivation in America. His work has been supported by the Ford, Russell Sage, and National Science Foundations, and his writing has appeared in theNew York TimesandChicago Tribune. In 2015, Desmond was awarded a MacArthur Genius grant."