The Lowest Rung: Voices of Australian Poverty [Paperback]

Mark Peel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521537592 | ISBN-13: 978-0521537599 | Publication Date: October 6, 2003

This original account of the impact of growing economic inequality upon the poorest segments of Australian society lets those most harshly affected by poverty reveal their fears, hopes and dilemmas. It is largely based on the author's conversations with hundreds of individuals living in three areas commonly described as "disadvantaged" in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Peel provides a welcome contrast to the drier statistical debates over poverty lines and relative poverty. He succeeds in taking us through a range of emotions that the experience of disadvantage generates.' Dr Alastair Greig, Australian National University

'This is an important and refreshing approach to poverty in Australia. It offers a new and lively perspective on a much-researched topic, and one that breaks out of the narrow social policy focus of the bulk of this literature.' Professor Stephen Garton, University of Sydney

Book Description

The Lowest Rung is a fascinating, impressively original and profoundly moving account of the impact of economic rationalism on members of the poorest parts of Australian society. It is beautifully written and compassionate in approach, with the author frequently standing aside to let those most harshly effected by poverty tell their own stories. It is largely based on interviews with around 250 people living and working in areas that are commonly described as among the most disadvantaged in the country.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521537592
• ISBN-13: 978-0521537599
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,238,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Peel is professor of modern cultural and social history and Head of History at the University of Liverpool, having previously been a professor and head at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A balanced, humanitarian look at the face of poverty, February 22, 2005

By 

O. DALE (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lowest Rung: Voices of Australian Poverty (Paperback)

I am so glad I picked this book to read. From the outset I knew I was reading something that was not going to portray real "battlers" as victims, but as people. The "Voices" are from a broad range including social workers, residents, government ministers, clerics and others. Mark Peel has clearly worked hard to show things as they really are by picking through the stories he is told to arrive at a truth. Because he has done this with humility and compassion, the truths that he arrives at are indisputable.

This book has shown me things that I was ignorant of and things that I already knew and provides it in a context that is both humanitarian and factual. It is a must-read for anyone who continues to claim that "they" have a choice and that their choice must have been to live in poverty. Peel shows us that it is clearly not the case. He allows us to live vicariously through the injustices that the subjects have faced and continue to face, giving us insight into the very real challenges that the terrorism of poverty poses - in our own backyards.

"The Lowest Rung" was published in 2003 but is based on research conducted during the mid 1990s. If anything, the situations faced by the people in this book are worse now than they were then. It should serve as a warning to everyone that poverty can often be only a step away and that it is vital to protect every man woman and child from this cruelty, lest we face it ourselves.