100 Best Books of the 21st Century (New York Times)
Eviction (2016)
by Matthew Desmond
#16
The overriding theme of the non-fiction portion of the 100 Best Books of the 21s Century by the New York Times is "getting to know the underclass." It is poverty, more than race or gender, which interests the voters for this project. Like Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Eisenreich, Eviction is a laser-focused sociology-inspired work of reportage from the front lines of the housing crisis as represented by Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Desmond moved into a particular trailer-park for some of his time researching this book, and the trailer park really takes center stage.
My abiding conclusion after listening to Eviction is the same thing James Baldwin said, "Poverty is expensive." In other words, if you can't exist on a day-to-day basis you end up paying MORE for things like food and shelter. The best example from these pages is the practice of landlords having tenants' possessions removed to a storage unit facility, where they are then charged for keeping their possessions even after they are rendered homeless.
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