Showing titles in Poverty & Homelessness

Orwell's own experiences inspire this semi-autobiographical novel about a penniless man living in Paris in the early 1930s. The narrator's poverty brings him into contact with strange incidents and characters, which he manages to chronicle with great sensitivity and graphic power. The latter...

When Orwell went to the north of England in the thirties to find out how industrial workers lived, he not only observed but shared in their experience. He stayed in cramped, dreary lodgings and subsisted on the scant, cheerless diet of the poor. He went down into the coal mines and walked...

"Meine Tochter machte ihre ersten Schritte in einem Obdachlosenheim." Stephanie Land steht kurz davor, ihren Traum vom Studium in die Tat umzusetzen, als sie ungeplant schwanger wird. Ihr Freund fängt an, sie immer stärker zu kontrollieren und zu bedrohen, von ihrer Familie bekommt sie keine Hilfe. Zusammen mit ihrer kleinen Tochter flüchtet sie schließlich aus ihrer toxischen Beziehung und landet auf der Straße. Doch statt zu verzweifeln beginnt Stephanie zu kämpfen: Mit einem Job als Putzhilfe schafft sie es gerade so, sich und ihre Tochter über Wasser zu halten.

The bitingly funny, eye-opening story of finding work in the automated and time-starved world of hourly low-wage labor. "Nickel and Dimed for the Amazon age" —Salon After the local newspaper where she worked as a reporter closed, Emily Guendelsberger took a pre-Christmas job at an Amazon...

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Lowborn by Kerry Hudson. What does it really mean to be poor in Britain today? A prizewinning novelist revisits her childhood and some of the country's most deprived towns 'When every day of your life you have been told you have nothing of value to...

His name was Antonio, but they would call him Nem. From the infamous favela of Rocinha in Rio, he was a hardworking young father forced to make a decision that would turn his world upside down. Nemesis is the story of an ordinary man who became the king of the largest slum in Rio, the head of a...

There are, in the United States, a significant and growing number of families who live on less than $2.00 per person, per day. That figure, the World Bank measure of poverty, is hard to imagine in this country - most of us spend more than that before we get to work or school in the morning.

Brought to you by Penguin. George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time living among the desperately poor and destitute, Down and Out in Paris and London is a moving tour of the underworld of society. 'You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached...

This New York Times bestseller intimately depicts urban life in a gripping book that slips behind cold statistics and sensationalism to reveal the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour. One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century In her extraordinary...

Piven and Cloward have updated their classic work on the history and function of welfare to cover the American welfare state's massive erosion during the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton years. The authors present a boldly comprehensive, brilliant new theory to explain the comparative underdevelopment of the US welfare state among advanced industrial nations. Their conceptual framework promises to shape the debate within current and future administrations as they attempt to rethink the welfare system and its role in American society.

In this compelling new book, relying on original reporting from the most dangerous corners of Rio to the halls of power in Washington, DC, Dave Zirin examines how sports and politics are colliding in remarkable fashion in Brazil, opening up an international conversation on the culture, economics, and politics of sports.

This smart, provocative look at how the American Dream of single-family homes, white picket fences, and two-car garages became a lonely, overpriced nightmare explores how new trends in housing can help us live better. Over the past century, American demographics and social norms have shifted...

Brought to you by Penguin. George Orwell's searing account of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over time Orwell's graphically...

The Myth That Made Us exposes how false narratives—of a supposedly post-racist nation, of the self-made man, of the primacy of profit- and shareholder value—maximizing for businesses, and of minimal government interference—have been used to excuse gross inequities and to shape and sustain the US economic system that delivers them. Jeff Fuhrer argues that systemic racism continues to produce vastly disparate outcomes and that our brand of capitalism favors doing little to reduce disparities.

In this new edition of their classic work, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics upend the most common assumptions about how economics works, providing a “rich and humane” (Financial Times) examination of how poor people actually live Why do the poor borrow to save? Why do they miss...

Step across the haunting threshold of a 19th-century institution to witness the brutal reality of Victorian poverty. Perfect for an absorbing morning commute or a focused historical deep-dive, this immersive narrative nonfiction explores the ideological roots and tragic human cost of Britain's...

Uncover the economic forces and systemic inequality that keep global poverty alive throughout human history. Perfect for a focused commute or deep learning session, this calm and empathetic exploration shifts the focus from personal flaws to societal structures. You will finally grasp why...

Step inside the American housing crisis where displaced families battle soaring evictions and systemic corporate greed. Perfect for your daily commute, this urgent, empathetic narrative transforms abstract economic policies into deeply personal stories of survival. You will walk alongside gig...

A Quill & Quire Fall 2026 Nonfiction Pick “Edgelands will break you apart and simultaneously hold you together.” ―Rinaldo Walcott In Edgelands, Somali-Canadian writer Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali, author of Angry Queer Somali Boy, explores what it means to live life on the margins, in the city...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE ATLANTIC’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR Through the “revelatory and gut-wrenching” (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark work of...