The Injustice of Place by H. Luke Shaefer, Kathryn Edin, and Timothy Jon Nelson The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America" by H. Luke Shaefer, Kathryn Edin, and Timothy Jon Nelson, is a profound examination of entrenched poverty in often overlooked areas of the United States. The authors, renowned for their research into poverty in America, shift their focus from the nation's poorest people to its poorest places, revealing a startling reality. They discovered that America's most disadvantaged communities are predominantly rural, contrary to the common perception that the most severe poverty is found in big cities. This significant finding spurred a five-year investigative journey through regions like Appalachia, the Cotton and Tobacco Belts of the Deep South, and South Texas. Throughout the book, the authors delve into centuries of local history, participate in community events, and engage deeply with the residents of these areas. They uncover the legacies of extreme poverty in the United States, highlighting how inequalities affect people's health, livelihoods, and chances for upward social mobility. Grab a copy and learn more!

A sweeping and surprising new understanding of extreme poverty in America from the authors of the acclaimed $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. “This book forces you to see American poverty in a whole new light.” (Matthew Desmond, author of Poverty, by America and Evicted) Three of the nation’s top scholars – known for tackling key mysteries about poverty in America – turn their attention from the country’s poorest people to its poorest places. Based on a fresh, data-driven approach, they discover that America’s most disadvantaged communities are not the big cities that get the most notice. Instead, nearly all are rural. Little if any attention has been paid to these places or to the people who make their lives there. This revelation set in motion a five-year journey across Appalachia, the Cotton and Tobacco Belts of the Deep South, and South Texas. Immersing themselves in these communities, poring over centuries of local history, attending parades and festivals, the authors trace the legacies of the deepest poverty in America—including inequalities shaping people’s health, livelihoods, and upward social mobility for families. Wrung dry by powerful forces and corrupt government officials, the “internal colonies” in these regions were exploited for their resources and then left to collapse. The unfolding revelation in The Injustice of Place is not about what sets these places apart, but about what they have in common—a history of raw, intensive resource extraction and human exploitation. This history and its reverberations demand a reckoning and a commitment to wage a new War on Poverty, with the unrelenting focus on our nation’s places of deepest need.

An account of poverty in America so deep that we, as a country, don't think it exists. Jessica Compton's family of four would have no cash income unless she donated plasma twice a week at her local donation center in Tennessee. Modonna Harris and her teenage daughter Brianna in Chicago, often have no food but spoiled milk on weekends. After two decades of research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn't seen since the mid-1990s -- households surviving on virtually no income. Edin teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on calculating incomes of the poor, to discover that the number of American families living on $2.00 per person, per day, has skyrocketed to 1.5 million American households, including about 3 million children.