Evicted
question
recommendation
Shelly
Oct 01, 2018 08:07AM
I work at a large social service non profit. (food, training, car program) Last year we did an ALL READ - of Evicted. Over 100 people participated. (Our volunteer pool is nearly 1,000 people).
I have been hunting for a read for this year - social justice? overcoming inequity? power of compassion?
The book Educated was riveting but I'm not sure that it's the right fit?
Recommendations please??
I have been hunting for a read for this year - social justice? overcoming inequity? power of compassion?
The book Educated was riveting but I'm not sure that it's the right fit?
Recommendations please??
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To fill that hole, I recommend Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance. It covers a lot of the same issues, and I found it well written.
I would not recommend the book. First, in my opinion, he seriously misrepresents himself. He was born in Ohio and educated there. His parents were from West Virginia and he spent some summers there but was never a resident. My suspicion is that native West Virginians would not recognize him as a hillbilly.
Second, when we read his book we find that his educational and career achievements are exceptional and would not be typical of those hillbillies who grew up in and lived within a holler. I think this qualifies him as an outsider who has researched his subject matter and writes about his findings and opinions but as a hillbilly? Hell no.
Second, when we read his book we find that his educational and career achievements are exceptional and would not be typical of those hillbillies who grew up in and lived within a holler. I think this qualifies him as an outsider who has researched his subject matter and writes about his findings and opinions but as a hillbilly? Hell no.
I highly recommend this book - it looks at poverty from all angles - it is not one-sided, it is a lifestyle for many people, generation after generation. The people in power like the downtrodden and take advantage of them every chance they can. What is the answer to getting out of the "hood"? You will have to find it yourself because no one is going to help you and this book shows that.
Shelly, I recommend Nickel and Dimed: Not Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. For inequality (extreme) that existed in NYC in the late 19th century, then "How the Other Half Lives" by Jacob Riis. I've read both of these, but I think for your purposes at this time Nickel and Dimed seems a better fit.
Bootstraps. His origins were Kentucky but his parents moved to Middletown. This was after Armco Steel was taken over by MBAs and driven into the ground ... of course, I oversimplify. But at some point in the late sixties early seventies the managers moved out of town because of, well, at base, pride, and that move was symbolic of the whole era of the 1970s where management decided they deserved better, and that was the apotheosis of the Republic.
Shelley,
I recommend Just Mercy-by Bryan Stephenson- about social injustices-
Let me know what you think!
I recommend Just Mercy-by Bryan Stephenson- about social injustices-
Let me know what you think!
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