If Coming Up Short by left you furious about rigged systems, Poverty, by America by weaponizes that rage.
Buy on AmazonWhy It's Your Next Read
- Turns complicity into a mirror
- Data that punches you awake
- Actionable fury over vague hope
- No poverty porn—just structural truth
If Reich's Coming Up Short made you furious about rigged labor markets, Matthew Desmond's Poverty, by America turns that fury into a blowtorch aimed at every policy choice that keeps the poor poor by design. This isn't hand-wringing—it's a scalpel dissection of how we the comfortable exploit structural poverty for cheaper services, tax breaks, and conveniences, all while pretending scarcity is inevitable. Desmond wields data like a weapon and stories like evidence, validating your rage without offering false comfort.
Where Reich exposed the gig economy's betrayals, Desmond proves poverty isn't a bug in American capitalism—it's the operating system. His voice is sharp, empathetic, and utterly uninterested in letting anyone off the hook, including his readers.
This is the book that dares you to admit your own complicity, then shows you how to fight back.
What Readers Are Saying
"This book is as searing as they come...a fierce accounting of poverty in America and a poverty abolitionist manifesto. It is very very good." — Traci Thomas, Goodreads
"Poverty, by America, powerfully illustrates why...Matthew Desmond advocates for transcends politics, though, and gets at the heart of what it means to be a healthy and high-functioning society. This is a brilliant and thought-provoking proposal, and one that should be required reading for anyone serving in local, state, or federal government..." — Sean Gibson, Goodreads
"...the facts in this book are mind-blowing. It truly offers a comprehensive view of the causes and mechanics of poverty. If you’re looking for a detailed roadmap of poverty in America, this book is your atlas." — Graeme Newell, Goodreads
