Hard Living on Clay Street: Portraits of Blue Collar Families

by Joseph T. Howell

With 2017 Preface and Epilogue. In this revealing study of a white working class neighborhood in Washington, D.C., Howell shows us that there is more than one kind of blue collar worker in America today. Hard Living on Clay Street is about two very different blue collar families, the Shackelfords and the Mosebys. They are fiercely independent southern migrants, preoccupied with the problems of day-to-day living, drinking heavily, and often involved in unstable family relationships. Howell moved to Clay Street for a year with his wife and son and became deeply involved with the people, recording their story. As readers, we too become participants in the life of Clay Street, and not just observers, learning what "living on Clay Street" is all about. Titles of related interest from Waveland Lyon-Driskell, The Community in Urban Society, Second Edition (ISBN 9781577667414) and Singer, The Face of Social The Life History of a Street Drug Addict (ISBN 9781577664321).

Genres: Nonfiction, Labor, Biography, Poverty

405 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Julia]

This is an unbiased portrait of white working-class people in Washington, D.C. Joseph T. Howell moved to Clay Street for a whole year, with his wife and son. He became part of the community while he observed and recorded his experiences. Through his work, we become more than just observers. We immerse ourselves in living on Clay Stree in 1970. We feel like we personally know the families that he observed (Shackelford and Moseby) and we share in their trials and triumphs. An excellent ethnography even today (the book is about 50 years old). A great book for high-school or college age students and any adults interested in the topic of white working-class culture.

[Scott Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1970, Howell moved in to a working class neighborhood in Washington D.C. Living in the Clay Street neighborhood, came to know two families intimately. His retelling of his experiences with the two families makes a thought-provoking account of what it meant to be a working class family in the early 1970s. In the midst of the book, one wonders if things have changed much at all for working class families today. Twenty years after the initial book, Howell reconnected with many of the people he had known, and he shares what has happened to them over the twenty years. The entire book is told with honesty, rich-detail, and real emotions and is still worthy of reading over 50 years later.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author lived on Clay Street (in DC) for a year. He was accepted as a "friendly neighborhood spy." He chronicled two families in particular -- their daily lives, warts and all -- alcoholism, work, children, welfare, fights, bad health, unfaithfulness, love, fun. For me, it seemed unreal that anyone could live such lives but it was all too real! Amazing, and i am in awe that they just kept plodding on -- as well as they could. I could go on and give examplesor i could recommend that you read the book -- I choose the latter.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stumbled on and read this some thirty plus years ago. It is one of those books which over the years I have recommended to many. A masterpiece of ethnography, it's a must for anyone interested in American society. I see the book as an non-fiction reflex of the the novels of K.C. Constantine.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as an undergrad at UT Austin in 1976, and I can honestly (if shamefully) admit it was my first exposure to class. It stays with me to this day, easily one of the most memorable books I've ever read.

[Frances Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in about 1977 or 1978 as a sociology major (required reading). Totally absorbing. It may be dated by now, but I'm sure it's still well worth reading. As another reviewer has written, this is definitely one of the most memorable books I've ever read. All these years later - I guess it's been about 40 years now - it still moves me whenever I think about it. Highly recommended.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated and judgey

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This title and premise seem unexciting but the book is a fantastic soap opera with real humans! In 1970 a researcher was paid by the US Government to move with his family and live in a "rough" blue collar / working class area of Washington DC for a year and "study" the neighborhood. Unlike most research in which the study is based on surveys, stats and tertiary information, these are experience based findings. Howell's details a year long story of two families and the neighboorhood as a whole. The section on the Shacklefords, the poorest of the individuals written about, is amazing, their insurrmountable difficulties pile on throughout the year due to the father's alcoholism, four children, blind grandfather, seven people in a three room place and so on. This part is a riveting five star read but only comprises 165 pages of the 400. Howell conducts his social research as an observer but still as a caring person, an angle seen little of late.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sociological study of white blue collar Americans in the early 1970s in Washington DC. Extremely interesting, provocative, and readable.

[Kristi Bast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anotehr book that I was required to read in a college history course. It's GREAT. Humorous, sad, all at the same time.

[Sue]

Fascinatingbook set on a street in Washington DC in 1968. Comparing "hard living" and settled family