"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....

American Geography' is the visual record of Magnum photographer Matt Black's five-year, 100,000-mile road trip across 46 states of the United States, plus Puerto Rico. It examines the conditions of powerlessness, prejudice and pragmatism among America's poor. The project originated in Matt Black's exploration of his own home town in California's rural Central Valley - a place that has been called 'the other California' - where one third of the population...

Decades of cuts to local government amidst rising concentrations of poverty have wreaked havoc on communities left behind by the modern economy. Some of these discarded places are rural. Others are big cities, small cities, or historic suburbs. Some vote blue, others red. Some are the most diverse communities in America, while others are nearly all white, all Latino, or all Black. All are routinely trashed by outsiders for their poverty and their...

"To our knowledge, Poorly Understood is the first book to systematically address and confront many of the most widespread myths pertaining to poverty. Throughout each of our careers we have encountered these myths on a routine basis. They can be found virtually everywhere - from the political rhetoric emanating out of the highest office in the land to the neighborhood gossip down the street. It would seem as if everyone has a heated opinion about...

"Joanne Samuel Goldblum, CEO and founder of the National Diaper Bank Network, and Colleen Shaddox, a journalist and activist, give a book shedding light on the realities faced by those living in poverty across the United States and provide a road map for eradicating poverty via policy changes"--

"This book has been quite some time in the making. Across a number of years I have researched, taught, and written about poverty. In my opinion, there are few topics of greater importance. It is a dominant and disturbing feature of the American landscape. Yet despite the hundreds of books, articles, reports, and programs addressing the issue, the United States continues to have the highest rates of poverty among the wealthy countries"-- "The paradox...