Description

*WINNER OF THE 2017 PULITZER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION*
‘Beautifully written, thought-provoking, and unforgettable … If you want a good understanding of how the issues that cause poverty are intertwined, you should read this book’ Bill Gates, Best Books of 2017

Arleen spends nearly all her money on rent but is kicked out with her kids in Milwaukee’s coldest winter for years. Doreen’s home is so filthy her family call it ‘the rat hole’. Lamar, a wheelchair-bound ex-soldier, tries to work his way out of debt for his boys. Scott, a nurse turned addict, lives in a gutted-out trailer. This is their world. And this is the twenty-first century: where fewer and fewer people can afford a simple roof over their head.

‘Essential. A compelling and damning exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter.’ Owen Jones

‘If I could require the president to read one book it would be Evicted’ Zadie Smith

Publisher Review

An intimate portrait of what it's like to be powerless in the world's superpower ... Evicted shows how the smallest event can rip through poor lives, sending them spinning out of control... To British eyes, the narrative reads like a dispatch from the near-future. -- Aditya Chakrabortty * Guardian * For the two or three weeks I was reading the book, it formed my topic of conversation with friends, and at night, when I went to sleep, it filled my thoughts ... It makes you aware of how complicated the webs holding you up are. -- Benjamin Markovits * New Statesman * A monumental and vivid study of urban poverty ... Evicted demands attention. It shines a klieg light on a dark corner of the American experience -- Ed Caesar * Sunday Times * Heartbreaking... Desmond's acute observational skills, his facility with reported dialogue and his ability to wrench chaotic stories into clear prose make Evicted a vivid, if sometimes gruelling, read... with UK house prices unaffordable, a dearth of council housing and a Government committed to austerity, Evicted serves as a warning as to what happens when a society refuses to recognise the fundamental human right to shelter -- Keith Kahn-Harris * Independent * A remarkable ethnography ... [Desmond] has a novelist's eye for the telling detail and a keen ear for dialogue ... This is a significant literary achievement, as well as a feat of reporting underpinned by statistical labour -- Jonathan Derbyshire * Financial Times * Astonishing ... Desmond has set a new standard for reporting on poverty -- Barbara Ehrenreich * Herald * An extraordinary ethnographic study... Desmond takes people who are usually seen as worthless, and shows us their full humanity ... By examining one city through the microscopic lens of housing, he shows us how the system that produces that pain and poverty was created and is maintained -- Katha Pollitt * Guardian *