Books on homelessness in America?

July 17, 2018 12:46 PM

I'm looking to read a non-fiction book about homelessness in America, preferably written within the last 10 years. More requirements inside.

I'm looking for a book that's somewhere between a first person account of someone experiencing homelessness and a dry sociological text. Ideally it would examine the social and economic causes of homelessness in the US, focusing less on proposing solutions or strategies for resolution.

posted by drawfrommemory to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

Try At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness.
posted by wearyaswater at 12:57 PM on July 17, 2018

Best answer: The book Evicted meets some of this, as it's a book about how homelessness happens.
posted by bilabial at 1:03 PM on July 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

from 1988, Jonathan Kozol's Rachel and Her Children was excellent, and, but for date of publication, would seem to meet your requirements. Searching for info on whether Kozol has updated it (maybe not?) also revealed his 2013 Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-five Years Among the Poorest Children in America, which, i gather, is not so focused on homelessness.
posted by 20 year lurk at 2:17 PM on July 17, 2018

A shelter is not a home-- or is it?
posted by the twistinside at 2:24 PM on July 17, 2018

Seconding Evicted by Matthew Desmond. I thought it did an excellent job explaining the economic and social factors that contribute to homelessness and is a great, thought-provoking read.
posted by mjcon at 2:26 PM on July 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

One of the best books I've ever read is Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets, by Lars Eighner. It's more than ten years old, though.
posted by alex1965 at 4:26 PM on July 17, 2018

Best answer: Sidewalk is a classic sociology text about the homeless of NYC; the author’s style is a reflexive first person narrative. And it’s excellent. Absorbing, challenging, funny, heartbreaking, but still serious in its sociological approach and value. Highly recommended.
posted by nightrecordings at 5:44 PM on July 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Daily Life in Skid Row (2016) by Forrest Stuart is excellent.
Righteous Dopefiend (2009) by Philippe Bourgois is unconventional and features photography.
An older book that I found super helpful is Out of place: homeless mobilizations, subcities, and contested landscapes (1997) by Talmadge Wright
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:54 PM on July 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you for the great recommendations - looking forward to reading these!
posted by drawfrommemory at 10:33 AM on July 18, 2018

Highly recommend Catching Homelessness by Josephine Ensign. The story of her work in an urban clinic, and her own struggles with poverty. Includes her insights on the myriad problems. She is now a professor at nursing school.

I read Eighner's Travels with Lizbeth a long time ago. It's very good.
posted by valannc at 2:56 PM on July 18, 2018

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder, not nearly as romantic as the title suggests. Talks about how people adapt to a kind of homelessness or the threat of homelessness.
posted by BeHereNow at 6:59 PM on July 20, 2018