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{{short description|2016 non-fiction book by Matthew Desmond}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
| name = Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City▼
{{Infobox book
▲| name = Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
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| author = [[Matthew Desmond]]
| audio_read_by = [[Dion Graham]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/247816/evicted/ |title=Evicted by Matthew Desmond |website=[[Penguin Random House Audio]] |access-date=March 26, 2020}}</ref>
| caption = Desmond discusses the book at the 2017 [[National Book Festival]]▼
| cover_artist = Nina Mangalanayagam (floor photo)<ref name="Copyright">{{cite book|author=Matthew Desmond|title=Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City|url=https://archive.org/details/evicted_des_2016_00_4022|url-access=registration|year=2016|publisher=Crown Publishers|isbn=978-0-553-44743-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/evicted_des_2016_00_4022/page/6 6]}}</ref><br>Pavel Shynkarou (wall photo)<ref name="Copyright"/><br>Jake Nicolella (design)<ref name="Copyright"/>
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| subject = [[Sociology]], [[poverty]], [[low-income housing]]
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| publisher = [[Crown
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| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|hardback]])
| pages = 432
| isbn = 978-0-553-44743-9
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| website = {{URL|www.evictedbook.com}}
| award = [[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction]]
}}
'''''Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City''''' is a 2016
''Evicted'' was well-received and won multiple book awards such as the [[2017 Pulitzer Prize]] for [[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction|General Nonfiction]] and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. The Pulitzer committee selected the book "for a deeply researched exposé that showed how mass evictions after the 2008 economic crash were less a consequence than a cause of poverty".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last= |title=''Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City'', by Matthew Desmond |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/matthew-desmond |access-date=May 27, 2017 |website=[[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer.org]]}}</ref>
== Background ==
In an interview with ''[[The Atlantic]]'', author Matthew Desmond expresses his goal of writing about poverty through the lens of eviction, focusing on relationships and interactions among landlords, tenants, and judges.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=White |first=Gillian B. |date=March 1, 2016 |title=America's Insidious Eviction Problem |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/eviction-matthew-desmond-housing/471375/ |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=[[The Atlantic]] |language=en}}</ref> According to Desmond, evictions acts "as a cause, not just a condition, of poverty".<ref name=":0" /> He picked the setting of Milwaukee believing that it captures a broad national experience from an under-represented urban city.<ref name=":0" />
== Summary ==
Set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Matthew Desmond tells the story of eight families and their experiences with eviction and poverty.<ref name=":1" /> The families are diverse in race, age, and gender, yet all struggle with rent payments, which consume the majority of their already meager income.<ref name=":1" />
Arleen Belle, a member of one of the eight families Desmond documents, is a Black single mother struggling to secure housing with her low income.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Pollitt |first=Katha |date=April 7, 2016 |title=Evicted by Matthew Desmond review – what if the problem of poverty is that it's profitable to other people? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/07/evicted-poverty-and-profit-in-the-american-city-matthew-desmond-review |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref> Lamar, a Black man who had lost both of his legs, has to look after a group of boys while burdened with debt.<ref name=":2" /> Scott, a white male nurse, struggles to pay rent in a trailer park while struggling with [[heroin]] addiction.<ref name=":2" /> The book is centered around the families’ interactions with their two landlords: Sherrena and Tobin.<ref name=":1" /> Through following the lives of these families and individuals, Desmond illustrates the psychological, legal, and discriminatory aspects of eviction and how it is intertwined with poverty.<ref name=":1" />
Desmond advocates for a universal [[housing voucher]] program from the U.S. government for families below a certain income threshold so that they pay no more than 30 percent of their income on housing.<ref>Desmond, Matthew (2016). Evicted. PenguinRandomHouse.</ref>
== Genre and style ==
According to Jennifer Senior from ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''Evicted'' "is a regal hybrid of ethnography and policy reporting".<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Senior|first=Jennifer|date=February 21, 2016|title=Review: In 'Evicted,' Home Is an Elusive Goal for America's Poor|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/books/evicted-book-review-matthew-desmond.html|access-date=December 6, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> To complete this book, Desmond conducted fieldwork in Milwaukee from 2008 to 2009; he first lived in a [[trailer park]] known as Central Mobile Home Park to observe the residents, followed by a rooming house on the north side of the city run by Sherrena and her husband Quentin.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Martin|first=Isaac William|date=2017|editor-last=Chaskin|editor-first=Robert J.|editor2-last=Joseph|editor2-first=Mark L.|editor3-last=Desmond|editor3-first=Matthew|editor4-last=McCabe|editor4-first=Brian J.|title=New Sociology of Housing|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26425007|journal=Contemporary Sociology|volume=46|issue=4|pages=392–396|doi=10.1177/0094306117714499a |jstor=26425007 |s2cid=148988707 |issn=0094-3061}}</ref> After interviewing Milwaukee renters and defendants in eviction courts and analyzing court records, Desmond began drafting ''Evicted''.<ref name=":4" />
== Analysis ==
Historian Thomas Jackson credits Desmond for “[combining] simple, powerful narrative with vivid characterization and quantitative rigor,” which is reflected in the footnotes containing substantial quantitative and qualitative survey data.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Thomas|date=December 1, 2017|title=Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jax411|journal=Journal of American History|volume=104|issue=3|pages=820–822|doi=10.1093/jahist/jax411|issn=0021-8723}}</ref> Furthermore, Desmond illustrates how groups such as black women and children are disproportionately subjected to evictions and housing discrimination.<ref name=":5" />
Sociologist David J. Harding applauds Desmond’s clear illustration of the causal relationship between eviction and the vicious cycle of poverty.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Harding|first=David J.|date=July 1, 2017|title=Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/692433|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=123|issue=1|pages=301–303|doi=10.1086/692433|issn=0002-9602}}</ref> However, he outlines two points of controversy from an academic perspective: 1) the potential attribution or misinterpretation of poverty to the problematic personal lives of the families and 2) Desmond’s direct involvement with the subjects.<ref name=":6" /> Regarding the first point, Harding defends the book by arguing that conditions such as domestic violence and drug abuse are likely symptoms rather than causes of poverty.<ref name=":6" /> Second, Harding emphasizes that it is unlikely for Desmond to drastically change the lives of his subjects only with a few incidences of intervention.<ref name=":6" />
== Reception ==
=== Reviews ===
[[Bill Gates]] describes ''Evicted'' as "a brilliant portrait of Americans living in poverty" through its focus on people and the transformation of quantitative data into stories.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gates |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Gates |date=December 4, 2017 |title=A searing portrait of American poverty |url=https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Evicted |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=Gates Notes}}</ref>
Katha Pollitt from ''[[The Guardian]]'' writes that, “I can’t remember when an ethnographic study so deepened my understanding of American life.”<ref name=":2" /> She applauds Desmond’s narrative approach in research and his demonstration of the intersection of housing, eviction, and poverty.<ref name=":2" />
Christian Schneider, writer for the ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'', questions eviction as a root cause of poverty and argues that “eviction simply exacerbates the existing dysfunctions many of these people already carry with them,” including drug abuse, physical disability, domestic violence, and unemployment. Schneider describes housing insecurity as a “link” rather than a fundamental cause.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schneider|first=Christian|title=Schneider: Desmond's 'Evicted' is a flawed masterpiece|url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/columnists/christian-schneider/2017/04/11/schneider-desmonds-evicted-flawed-masterpiece/100331610/|access-date=December 6, 2021|website=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|language=en-US}}</ref>
▲
=== Awards ===
* 2018 [[Order of the Coif]] Book Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=Order of the Coif Book Awards|url=https://orderofthecoif.org/book-award/|access-date=September 27, 2018|website=orderofthecoif.org|publisher=The Order of the Coif}}</ref>
* 2017 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction<ref name=":1" />
* 2017 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 18, 2017|title=2017 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION|url=https://pen.org/2017-penjohn-kenneth-galbraith-award/|access-date=May 27, 2017|work=pen.org|publisher=PEN America}}</ref>
* 2017 [[Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction & Nonfiction {{!}} Awards & Grants|url=http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116152529/http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carnegieadult/|archive-date=January 16, 2016|access-date=May 27, 2017|website=ala.org}}</ref>
* 2017 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism<ref>{{Cite web|title=2017 Hillman Prizes|url=http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/hillman-prizes/2017|access-date=May 27, 2017|website=hillmanfoundation.org|publisher=Hillman Foundation}}</ref>
* 2017 ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' [[Heartland Prize]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Schoenberg|first=Nara|date=May 4, 2017|title='The Underground Railroad,' 'Evicted' win Tribune's Heartland Prizes|work=Chicago Tribune|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-heartland-prize-whitehead-desmond-books-0507-20170502-story.html|access-date=May 27, 2017}}</ref>
* 2016 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]]<ref>{{cite news|author=Reid, Calvin|date=March 17, 2017|title=Louise Erdrich, Matthew Desmond Win 2016 NBCC Awards|work=Publishers Weekly|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/73100-louise-erdrich-matthew-desmond-win-2016-nbcc-awards.html|access-date=May 27, 2017}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?405981-1/evicted Presentation by Desmond on ''Evicted'', March 4, 2016], [[C-SPAN]]
*{{cite web|title=Matthew Desmond, "Evicted"|date=March 17, 2016|publisher=Politics and Prose|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24M9wUaCEKo}}
{{PulitzerPrize GeneralNon-Fiction 2001–2025}}
{{US housing by state}}
[[Category:2016 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:History of Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction-winning works]]
[[Category:Poverty in the United States]]
[[Category:Housing in the United States]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Housing in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Crown Publishing Group books]]
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