Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream (Hardcover)

~ John Edwards (Editor), Marion Crain (Editor), Arne L. Kalleberg (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At a time when U.S. income inequality has reached levels not seen since 1928, Senator (and presidential candidate) Edwards and company turn their attention to that near-forgotten project, the War on Poverty, declared by FDR, revived by LBJ and lately eclipsed by Wars on Drugs and Terror. In this engrossing collection of rigorously researched articles, more than two dozen contributors examine the state of poverty, hammering home two War on Poverty standards: the rich are getting richer while the 37 million living in poverty get nothing, while a third argument bolsters those standbys: the middle class is getting poorer. Elizabeth Warren's troubling article shows how, in the 2000s, two-income families are far more vulnerable to economic crises than their single-income counterparts, and in fact have less disposable real income (by about $1,500) than single-income families did in the 1970s. Contributors, including Edwards himself, propose some sensible policy solutions, and frequently without raising taxes: raising the minimum wage, creating a Financial Product Safety Commission (to end usurious consumer credit practices), developing programs to increase asset ownership (e.g., homes) and offering tax advantages for employers who provide education, child care and a living wage. Responsible and intelligent, this dispatch makes an urgent case for redeployment in the battle for America's impoverished.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

John Edwards puts a seminal issue back on the map, presenting blueprints for ending poverty in America.

"This is one of the great moral issues of our time. The day after Katrina hit, new government statistics showed that 37 million Americans live in poverty, up for the fourth year in a row."—Senator John Edwards

Is poverty a fact of life? Can the wealthiest nation in the world do nothing to combat the steadily rising numbers of Americans living in poverty—or the 50 million Americans living in "near poverty"? Senator John Edwards and some of the country's most prominent scholars, businesspeople, and community activists say otherwise.

Published in conjunction with one of the country's leading anti-poverty centers, Ending Poverty in America brings together some of America's most respected social scientists, including William Julius Wilson, Katherine S. Newman, and Richard B. Freeman, alongside journalists, neighborhood organizers, and business leaders. The voices heard here are both liberal and conservative, and tackle hot-button issues such as job creation, schools, housing, and family-friendly social policy.

The contributors explain why poverty is growing and outline concrete steps that can be taken now to start turning the tide. In a political landscape seemingly bereft of daring and forward-thinking ideas, this new book lays out a path toward eliminating poverty in America—a template for a renewed public debate for an issue of intense urgency.

Contributors include: Jared Bernstein, Anita Brown-Graham, Carol Mendez Cassell, Richard Freeman, Angela Glover-Blackwell, Jacob Hacker, Harry Holzer, Jack Kemp, Glenn Loury, Ron Mincy, Katherine S. Newman, Melvin Oliver, Dennis Orthner, David Shipler, Beth Shulman, Michael Stegman, Elizabeth Warren, William Julius Wilson.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: New Press (April 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595581766
• ISBN-13: 978-1595581761
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #268,036 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious Study of Poverty and Strategies to Overcome It, April 3, 2008

By	Alan F. Fogelquist "globalperspectives" (Pacific Palisades, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first saw the cover of this book, I thought it might be the usual book written by a candidate for office.

Instead, when I looked deeper I found a work containing articles by serious scholars and professionals who have studied the causes of poverty and inequality in the United States and who present credible solutions.

The book is edited by John Edwards, who has put together and excellent group of specialists on poverty representing a variety of disciplines ranging from law to social work and economics. This is a multidisciplinary look at a key issue often neglected by economists.

It is too bad that more of the ideas of John Edwards and the scholars writing this book will probably not become policy.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Up to date research, some interesting new ideas on fighting poverty, December 26, 2007

By	Richard Gibson "Rick Gibson" (Woodland Hills, CA) - See all my reviews

This book is a collection of essays, by a a group of experts, on the general subject of poverty in America. Most of the contributors are left of center in their opinions, but most of the book is pragmatic in tone rather than ideological.

If you are looking for THE answer to poverty, which will solve the problem once and for all, this is not your book. It does not provide a clear, consistent set of policies, which arguably might really solve the problem. Rather, this book provides a series of narrowly focused essays on different aspects of the problem.

I found two strengths in the book. First, it has to up to date information on recent developments on poverty and income inequality in America. For example, it has a fairly detailed description of just how good things were in the 1990s. In addition, to the poverty rate falling, the number of areas dominated by poverty has fallen dramatically. The recent good news was better than we thought. There is also some good material on exactly why the middle class is under so much economic pressure at this point. That information is both timely and detailed.

Second, it has some interesting new ideas on how to deal with the problem. I found most interesting the whole discussion of tax-advantaged individual savings accounts. The idea is to extend the IRA concept, so that it works for a broader range of people. The essays on this idea cite some interesting research to the effect that, if people have assets, it has a wide range of positive benefits, such as encouraging them to do more advance planning and so forth. I think this whole concept is a very exciting one. Among other things, it is an anti-poverty policy idea that could be acceptable to both left and right. The left might support it, because it helps the poor. The right might support it, because it encourages an ownership society.

Not all of the essays are good. Some of them, for example, just give us the same-old, same-old arguments that what we need is to spend tremendously more on every social welfare program known to man, or that what we need is more unions. Not exactly new ideas, not good ideas and not ideas that are likely to go anywhere.

All in all, however, the book has plenty of new material and is worth reading.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Research Resource!, December 2, 2007

By	K. Portlance "KrysPKreme" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recently purchased Ending Poverty for a paper i had to write and it came in as a great resource for my research on Poverty. The book includes graphs and numerous statistics along with John Edwards imput on various aspects of poverty, making it an excellent resource for not only my college paper, but most surely for others. As far as reading goes, I wasn't able to finish it due to a deadline but what i had read was a little bland, very straight-to-the point in terms of connecting numbers with Edwards' thoughts on what they mean to him. Again, a great book for resource, but probably not one i would stalk bookstores to read for pleasure.