The New Faces of American Poverty [2 volumes]: A Reference Guide to the Great Recession - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1610691814 ISBN 13: 9781610691819

Publisher: ABC-CLIO, 2014

Synopsis

The Great Recession (2007 to 2009) brought the United States—routinely touted as the richest country in the world—to historical levels of poverty. Rising unemployment, government budget crises, and the collapse of the housing market had devastating effects on the poor and middle class. This is one of the first books to focus on the impact of the Great Recession on poverty in America, examining governmental and cultural responses to the economic downturn; the demographics of poverty by gender, age, occupation, education, geographical area, and ethnic identity; and federal and state efforts toward reform and relief. Essays from more than 20 contributing writers explore the history of poverty in America and provide a vision of what lies ahead for the American economy.

About this title

About the Author

Lindsey K. Hanson is a staff attorney at a nonprofit in Minnesota where she represents low-income tenants in housing cases.

Timothy J. Essenburg, PhD, is professor of economics at Bethel University, Saint Paul, MN.

Reviews

*Starred Review* As America and the rest of the world slowly recover from the Great Recession, many of us are still wondering how it happened. A highly politicized discourse and a sea of misinformation have, for far too long, dominated the discussion. In this work, editors Hanson and Essenburg wade into the muddied waters with a fascinating, eye-opening resource, marked by sound research and lucid analysis. The work begins with an introduction that offers answers to the question, why do we care about poverty? Answers range from religious belief to naked self-interest. Individual chapters are arranged around a center question, such as, why is there poverty, and how is it measured? How did the Great Recession affect low-income families? And the all-important, how long will the effects of the Great Recession last? Within each chapter is a brief introductory section that lays out the key points of the issue followed by analysis that is broken down into sections entitled Overview, The Present, Outlook, and Further Reading. For example, section one consists of individually signed essays on Global Downturn, Great Recession, Great Recession versus Great Depression, Housing Crisis, Policy, Fiscal (The Federal Government), and Policy, Monetary (The Federal Reserve). A concluding chapter entitled, What can be done about poverty in the United States? offers historical and contemporary pathways to poverty alleviation, but understandably concludes that budget deficits and the focus on the state of the middle class make both public and private attempts to address poverty unlikely.Included in the appendixes are 34 primary documents, the majority of which are government actions, such as the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, and charts related to the overall analysis of poverty in America. Scattered throughout the essays are well-chosen, pertinent data charts that provide users with the all-too-often mind-numbing statistics in a manner that makes sense and actually adds to the argument. The editors have avoided the slippery slope into politically charged argumentation and provide high-school and undergraduates with a balanced, well-conceived survey of America’s most imperative social issue. --Brian Odom

Edition details

• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1610691814
• ISBN 13: 9781610691819
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 992
• Editor: Hanson Lindsey K., Essenburg Timothy J.