Awards

• Winner of American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award 2017
• Winner of Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2017
• Winner of Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award 2016
• Winner of Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize 2017

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY One of the most acclaimed books of our time, this modern classic “has set a new standard for reporting on poverty” (Barbara Ehrenreich, The New York Times Book Review). In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation), “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.  A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: President Barack Obama, The New York Times Book Review, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Esquire, BuzzFeed, Fortune, San Francisco Chronicle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Politico, The Week, Chicago Public Library, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal,  Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Shelf Awareness WINNER OF: The National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction • The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction • The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • The Hillman Prize for Book Journalism • The PEN/New England Award • The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE AND THE KIRKUS PRIZE “Evicted stands among the very best of the social justice books.”—Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto and Commonwealth “Gripping and moving—tragic, too.”—Jesmyn Ward, author of Salvage the Bones “Evicted is that rare work that has something genuinely new to say about poverty.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Full Product Details

9780553447453

Table of Contents

Reviews

<b>A <i>New York Times </i>Editors' ChoiceOne of <i>Wall Street Journal</i>'s Hottest Spring Nonfiction BooksOne of <i>O: The Oprah Magazine</i>'s 10 Titles to Pick Up NowOne of Vulture's 8 Books You Need to Read This MonthOne of BuzzFeed's 14 Most Buzzed About Books of 2016One of <i>The Guardian</i>'s Best Holiday Reads 2016</b> An exhaustively researched, vividly realized and above all, unignorable book after <i>Evicted</i>, it will no longer be possible to have a serious discussion about poverty without having a serious discussion about housing. <b> Jennifer Senior, <i>New York Times</i> Astonishing...Desmond is an academic who teaches at Harvard a sociologist or, you could say, an ethnographer. But I would like to claim him as a journalist too, and one who, like Katherine Boo in her study of a Mumbai slum, has set a new standard for reporting on poverty. <b><b> </b>Barbara Ehrenreich, <i>New York Times Book Review</i></b> Written with the vividness of a novel, [<i>Evicted</i>] offers a dark mirror of middle-class America s obsession with real estate, laying bare the workings of the low end of the market, where evictions have become just another part of an often lucrative business model. <b> Jennifer Schuessler, <i>New York Times </b> It doesn't happen every week (or every month, or even year), but every once in a while a book comes along that changes the national conversation... <i>Evicted</i> looks to be one of those books. <b> Pamela Paul, editor of the <i>New York Times Book Review </b> An essential piece of reportage about poverty and profit in urban America. <b><i><b><i> </i></b></i>Geoff Dyer, <i> <i>The</i> <i>Guardian</i></i> s Best Holiday Reads 2016<i> </b> Should be required reading in an election year, or any other. <b><i><b> Entertainment Weekly</b></b> Thank you, Matthew Desmond. Thank you for writing about destitution in America with astonishing specificity yet without voyeurism or judgment. Thank you for showing it is possible to compose spare, beautiful prose about a complicated policy problem. Thank you for giving flesh and life to our squabbles over inequality, so easily consigned to quintiles and zero-sum percentages. Thank you for proving that the struggle to keep a roof over one s head is a cause, not just a characteristic of poverty... <i>Evicted</i> is an extraordinary feat of reporting and ethnography. Desmond has made it impossible to ever again consider poverty in America without tackling the role of housing and without grappling with <i>Evicted</i>. <b> <i>Washington Post</i></b> Powerful, monstrously effective [<i>Evicted</i>] documents with impressive steadiness of purpose and command of detail the lives of impoverished renters at the bottom of Milwaukee s housing market In describing the plight of these people, Desmond reveals the confluence of seemingly unrelated forces that have conspired to create a thoroughly humiliated class of the almost or soon-to-be homeless But the power of this book abides in the indelible impression left by its stories. <b> Jill Leovy, <i>The American Scholar </b> Gripping and important Desmond, a Harvard sociologist, cites plenty of statistics but it s his ethnographic gift that lends the work such force. He s one of a rare academic breed: a poverty expert who engages with the poor. His portraits are vivid and unsettling It s not easy to show desperate people using drugs or selling sex and still convey their courage and dignity.<i>Evicted</i>pulls it off. <b><i><b> Jason DeParle, <i>New York Review of Books </b></b> [Desmond] tells a complex, achingly powerful story There have been many well-received urban ethnographies in recent years, from Sudhir Venkatesh s <i>Gang Leader for a Day</i> to Katherine Boo s <i>Behind the Beautiful Forevers</i>. Desmond s <i>Evicted</i> surely deserves to takes [its] place among these. It is an exquisitely crafted, meticulously researched exploration of life on the margins, providing a voice to people who have been shamefully ignored or, worse, demonized by opinion makers over the course of decades. <b><b><i><b> The Boston Globe</b> </b></b> [An] impressive work of scholarship... novelistically detailed... As Mr. Desmond points out, eviction has been neglected by urban sociologists, so his account fills a gap. His methodology is scrupulous. <b><b><i></b> <i>Wall Street Journal </b> A shattering account of life on the American fringe, Matthew Desmond s <i>Evicted</i> shows the reality of a housing crisis that few among the political or media elite ever think much about, let alone address. It takes us to the center of what would be seen as an emergency of significant proportions if the poor had any legitimate political agency in American life. <b><i> The New Republic </b> Wrenching and revelatory Other sociologists have ventured before into the realm of popular literature but none in recent memory have so successfully bridged in a single work the demands of the academy (statistical studies and deep reviews of the existing literature) and the narrative necessity of showing what has brought these beautiful, flawed humans to their miseries A powerfully convincing book that examines the poor s impossible housing situation at point-blank range. <b><b><i> The Nation</i></b> Extraordinary I can t remember when an ethnographic study so deepened my understanding of American life. <b><i><i><b> </b></i></i><b>Katha Pollitt, </b><i><i><b>The Guardian</b></i> </b> <i>Evicted</i> stands among the very best of the social justice books The book is meticulously reported and beautifully written, balancing statistics with family stories that draw you in and keep you there. I hope that all the people who read and loved Katherine Boo s <i>Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity</i> will give <i>Evicted</i> a chance. <b> Ann Patchett, </b>author of <i>Bel Canto</i><b><i> </b> Like Katherine Boo s <i>Behind the Beautiful Forevers</i>, this brilliant book is reportage with the depth and force of fiction. Its eye-opening details and data offer a new way to look at the affordable-housing crisis, the forces that perpetuate poverty and the policies we need to fix a crazily stacked deck. <b><i><b> MORE Magazine</b> </b> [<i>Evicted</i>] is harrowing, heartbreaking, and heavily researched, and the plight of the characters will remain with you long after you close the book's pages... Desmond's meticulousness shows how precision is not at odds with compassionate storytelling of the underprivileged. Indeed, [it] is the respect that <i>Evicted</i> shows for its characters' flaws and mistakes that makes the book impossible to forget. <b> <i>Christian Science Monitor </b> A superb new book. <b> Nicholas Kristof, <i>The New York Times </b> The poverty of others brings up terrible questions of there-but-for-the-grace-of-God and what if, were your circumstances or skin color or gender different, that could be you. Your gaze pulls away. But Desmond writes so powerfully and with such persuasive math that he turns your head back and keeps it there: Yes, it could be you. But if home is so crucial a place that its loss causes this much pain, <i>Evicted</i>argues, making it possible for more of us might change everything. <b> <i>VICE </b> <i>Evicted</i> is a rich, empathetic feat of storytelling and fieldwork. <b> <i>Mother Jones </b> <i>Evicted</i>successfully interweaves the narratives of white characters living in a trailer park at the most southern point of Milwaukee with landlords and tenants in the sprawling black ghetto of the city s North Side... Desmond s book manages to be a deeply moral work, a successful nonfiction narrative, and a sweeping academic survey all while bringing new research to his academic field and to the public s attention. <b> <i>Slate</i></b><b><i></b> <i>Evicted</i> is that rare work that has something genuinely new to say about poverty. Desmond makes a convincing case that policymakers and academics have overlooked the role of the private rental market, and that eviction 'is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty'...Evictions have become routine. Desmond s book should begin to change that. <b><i><b> San Francisco Chronicle </i></b> Matthew Desmond s new book makes an undeniable case that we need to fix this all-American tragedy. <b><i><b><b> Huffington Post</b> </i></b> [A] carefully researched, often heartbreaking book. <b> <i>Chicago Tribune </b> <i>Evicted</i> should provoke extensive public policy discussions. It is a magnificent, richly textured book with a Tolstoyan approach: telling it like it is but with underlying compassion and a respect for the humanity of each character, major or minor. <b><i> <i>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel </b> By immersing himself in the everyday lives of poor renters, Desmond follows in the tradition of James Agee, whose monumental 1941 book <i>Let Us Now Praise Famous Men</i> pounded the reader with clear-eyed and brutal descriptions of rural poverty in the Deep South. <b> <i>Minneapolis</i><i>StarTribune</b> Desmond seems to be that rare person who is a dedicated and careful researcher and a phenomenal writer. The stories he tells in<i>Evicted</i>are gripping and intimate, at the same time as compelling as a novel and painstakingly illustrating how people are trapped and what the systemic implications are of that. I literally could not put it down [<i>Evicted</i>] feels like it has the potential to catalyze a movement. <b><i> <i>Shelterforce </b> [A] masterful, heartbreaking book The stories in <i>Evicted</i> are a haunting plea for us to do the right thing by families who ache for the simple routines that build a life evening baths in a working tub for the kids, dinner cooked in one s own kitchen, windows and doors that keep cold and danger out, a place to call home. <b> <i>Sojourner </b> [An] unflinching, richly detailed narrative <i>Evicted</i> is an important book that provides an unvarnished account of the lives of the troubled and disorganized some would say vulnerable poor. It is thick with detail and represents a new installment in a tradition dating back to Jacob Riis s <i>How the Other Half Lives</i> (1890) One can find passages to admire on almost every page of Desmond s book. <b><i><b> City Journal</b> </b> An intimate and beautiful work as poignant as it is insightful Often you hear that an author writes well for an academic, as if he were being graded on a curve. But Desmond is a good writer, period. His prose is vivid and energetic; his physicaldescriptions can be small gems. <b> <i>Bookforum</i></b> A groundbreaking work Desmond delivers a gripping, novelistic narrative This stunning, remarkable book a scholar s 21st-century <i>How the Other Half Lives</i> demands a wide audience. <i><b>Kirkus Reviews </b></i><b>(starred) Gripping storytelling and meticulous research undergird this outstanding ethnographic study Desmond identifies affordable housing as a leading social justice issue of our time and offers concrete solutions to the crisis. <b> <i>Publishers Weekly </i>(starred) Highly recommended. <b><b> <i>Library Journal </i>(starred) </b> It s hard to paint a slumlord as a sympathetic character, but Harvard professor Desmond manages to do so in this compelling look at home evictions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of America s most segregated cities... [Desmond] does a marvelous job telling these harrowing stories of people who find themselves in bad situations, shining a light on how eviction sets people up to fail... This is essential reading. <b><b> <i>Booklist </i>(starred)</b> <i> Evicted</i> is astonishing a masterpiece of writing and research that fills a tremendous gap in our understanding of poverty. Taking us into some of America s poorest neighborhoods, Desmond illustrates how eviction leads to a cascade of events, often triggered by something as simple as a child throwing a snowball at a car, that can trap families in a cycle of poverty for years.Beautiful, harrowing, and deeply human, <i>Evicted</i> is a must read for anyone who cares about social justice in this country. I loved it. <b> <b>Rebecca Skloot</b></b>, author of <i>The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</i><b> This story is about one of the most basic human needs a roof overhead and yet Matthew Desmond has told it in sweeping, immersive, heartbreaking fashion. We enter the lives of both renters and landlords at shoulder height, experiencing their triumphs, struggles, cruelty, kindness, loss, and love. One hopes that <i>Evicted</i> will change public policy. It will certainly change how people respond to the world and those who inhabit it. <b>Jeff Hobbs</b>, author of <i>The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace This sensitive, achingly beautiful ethnography should refocus our understanding of poverty in America on the simple challenge of keeping a roof over your head. <b>Robert D. Putnam</b>, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University, and author of<i>Bowling Alone</i>and<i>Our Kids</i> This is an extraordinary and crucial piece of work. Read it. Please, read it. <b>Adrian Nicole LeBlanc</b>, author of <i>Random Family Matthew Desmond tells stories of people at their most vulnerable. The characters that populate this lyrical book, many of whom are women and children, are our true American heroes, showing great courage and mythic strength against forces that are much larger than the individual. Their stories are gripping and moving tragic, too. It s a wonder and a shame that here, in the most prosperous country in the world, a roof over one s head can be elusive for so many. <i> </i> <b>Jesmyn Ward</b>, author of<i>Men We Reaped</i>and<i>Salvage the Bones</i> <i> Evicted</i> is a striking account of a severe and rapidly developing form of economic hardship in the U.S.Matthew Desmond s riveting narrative of the experiences of families in Milwaukee embroiled in the process of eviction will not only shock general readers, but it will broaden the perspective of experts on urban poverty as well.This powerful, well-written book also includes revealing portraits of profit-seeking landlords, as well as important findings from comprehensive surveys to back up the ethnographic research.<i>Evicted</i> is that rare book that both enlightens and serves as an urgent call for action. <b>William Julius Wilson</b>, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University, and author of <i>When Work Disappears <i>Evicted</i>paints a detailed and heartbreaking portrait of the country s eviction problem, and how it feeds into a cycle of poverty. <i><b>BuzzFeed</b> Sociology s next great hope [Desmond] is positioned to intervene in the inequality debate in a big way. <i> <i><b>Chronicle of Higher Education </i> The extent of Desmond s research is truly astonishing. More astonishing still is the fact that he s able to condense all of his observations and data into a single nonfiction volume that is both unsettling and nearly impossible to put down. <i><b></i> <i><b>Chicago Review of Books</i> Remarkable [Desmond] has a novelist s eye for the telling detail and a keen ear for dialogue [His] book is a significant literary achievement, as well as a feat of reporting underpinned by statistical labour, with details provided in copious endnotes. It is eloquent, too, on the harm eviction does not just to individuals but also to communities and to the quality of civic and urban life. <i><b> The Financial Times </i> Desmond s acute observational skills, his facility with reported dialogue and his ability to wrench chaotic stories into clear prose make <i>Evicted</i> a vivid, if sometimes grueling, read. <i><b>The Independent </i> A monumental and vivid study of urban poverty in America <i>Evicted</i> demands attention. <i><b> The Sunday Times<b><i></b></b></i> By exposing the difficulties these families face in obtaining and keeping decent and affordable shelter, Desmond illuminates, as few others have recently done, the lives of America s poor and, by extension, that of the country as a whole. <i><b><b><i><i><b> </b>Times Literary Supplement</i></i></b> </i> Desmond, a young sociologist whose fieldwork in Milwaukee was the subject of Disrupted Lives, this magazine s January-February 2014 cover article, here details several of those lives in painful, novelistic detail. But it is all fact and all twenty-first-century American. <i><b></i> <i><b>Harvard Magazine </i> <i>Evicted</i>is more than good journalism. While Desmond s skill as a writer creates a narrative pull, his training as a sociologist forces him to ask why we haven t had more data on perhaps our most pressing domestic crisis. <i><b> Christian Century </i> [<i>Evicted</i>] could do more than anything written in years to get fixing welfare reform and addressing urban poverty back on the national agenda. It will be hard for anyone to read <i>Evicted</i> and not be outraged over this nation s treatment of millions of low-income Americans. That is a huge accomplishment, and Desmond deserves high praise. <i><b></i> <i><b>Beyond Chron </i> Desmond shines as an ethnographer, providing rich description and engaging accounts of the daily struggles of people attempting to find some kind of stability amidst the chaos, powerlessness, and uncertainty of poverty... The combination of rigorous research and important policy recommendations makes this work valuable to a wide audience; it is a must-read. <i><b><i><b> Journal of Children and Poverty</b></i> </i> <i>Evicted</i>presents a passionate, intricately crafted argument that access to stable housing makes or breaks a person s life. Desmond weaves these human stories together with years of additional research to build a compelling case for drastic overhauls in how the country approaches public housing. He even offers a solution to the problem he describes. <i><b> Progressive Magazine </i> For the two or three weeks I was reading this book, it formed my topic of conversation with friends, and at night, when I went to sleep, it filled my thoughts. <i><b> Spectator </i> Riveting [the stories] bring to mind characters from Dickens and Steinbeck. <i><b> America Magazine</b> Desmond does more than paint a haunting picture of the poverty and instability created by housing insecurity. He tears past market ideology to show the power of landlords and the way they decide who the city will work for and how [A] masterpiece of sociological ethnography. <i><i><b> Dissent Magazine</b></i> It is impossible to fully convey the subtlety and energy of [<i>Evicted</i>]... a <i>tour de force</i>. <i><b><i><b> Books and Ideas</b></i> </i> A compelling and compassionate ethnography [this book] demands being read cover to cover. Matthew Desmond s<i>Evicted</i>is a moving, insightful, and deeply moral text that captures powerful, devastating scenes and draws much-needed attention to the brutal and beautiful lives at the intersection of American capitalism and poverty. <i><b> Sapiens </i> Desmond's important book might set out practical prescriptions for solutions such as improving the size of the housing voucher program, but the deeply touching portraits are what really make<i>Evicted</i>the heavyweight that it is. It should be mandatory reading for everyone, especially politicians and others who walk the corridors of power. That such bruising poverty can exist in the world's richest country is a scathing indictment of our regulatory policies. <b>Poornima Apte, </b><i><b>BookBrowse.com</i> <i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

Author Information

Matthew Desmond is a professor of sociology at Princeton University. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he joined the Harvard Society of Fellows as a Junior Fellow. He is the author of four books, including Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, which won the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Carnegie Medal, and PEN / John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The principal investigator of The Eviction Lab, Desmond’s research focuses on poverty in America, city life, housing insecurity, public policy, racial inequality, and ethnography. He is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and the William Julius Wilson Early Career Award. A contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, Desmond was listed in 2016 among the Politico 50 as one of “fifty people across the country who are most influencing the national political debate.”

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