Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

What it's about

In 2008 and 2009, sociologist Matthew Desmond moved into a trailer park on Milwaukee's south side, and then an inner-city rooming house, to live alongside the people he was studying. He follows eight families as they fall behind on rent, face the sheriff and search for somewhere, anywhere, to go next, along with two landlords who make their living renting to them. Told like narrative journalism, it shows how eviction isn't just a result of poverty in America but one of its causes.

Why it's worth reading

It reads like a novel, with people you'll think about long after, and it's backed by years of research. It won the Pulitzer Prize and changed how America talks about housing.

You'll love it if you liked

Poverty, by America, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness or The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

Good to know

The stories come first and the data and ideas for solutions come at the end, so it never feels like homework. It's heartbreaking in places.