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Overview
First published as a three-part series in The New Yorker. The Underclass is one of a handful of studies of class and society in America that are destined to endure. Updated by the author to reflect current realities. Ken Auletta's masterful reportage remains as relevant as ever to an American society increasingly divided into the extremely rich and the desperately poor.Auletta began with a seemingly simple goal--to find out who, exactly, make up the poorest of the poor, and to trace the many paths that took them there. As he follows 250 hardened members of the underclass, Auletta focuses on efforts to help them reconstruct their lives and find a functional place in mainstream society. Through the lives of the men and women he encounters, Auletta discovers the complex truths that have made hard-core poverty in America such an intractable problem.
In a nation where poverty and welfare rolls are declining but the underclass persists, the United States is as conflicted as ever about its responsibilities toward all its people. Thus, The Underclass is as incredibly lucid and pertinent as ever.
Editorials
Library Journal
LJ's reviewer dubbed this 1982 volume, now out of print, "a moving narrative on the American `underclass'--that 30 percent of the nation's poor who cannot readily enter the mainstream." In this updated edition, the author adds an analysis of the situation since the original publication. (LJ 5/1/82) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Booknews
Auletta, communications columnist for , investigates those who make up the poorest of the poor, and traces the many paths that took them there. He follows 250 members of the hard-core underclass and discovers complex truths that have made poverty in American such an intractable problem. First published in 1982 as a three-part series in . This edition is revised and updated, and contains a new introduction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
January 31, 2000
Publisher
Overlook Press
Pages
348
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780879519292