Book Review : Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

It's safe to say no place on earth is immune to poverty and even the seemingly wealthiest country like America is no different. From across the world, we tend to assume a typical American is considered wealthy when compared to people from other nations. The thing is, within America itself, poverty exists and is rooted. According to Matthew Desmond in his book Poverty, there are more than a couple of million in the US who can't afford basic necessities. That fact alone is already concerning and shows us the reality of poverty there. Obviously, the kind of poverty that exists in the US needed a different lens in order to examine it and Desmond tried to help us understand the very nature of poverty, mainly within the US framework. As someone growing up across the pond and is familiar with poverty, I wanted to understand what approach can be used to alleviate poverty and whether a person can escape from the nature of it.

Poverty has different kinds. These days in our advanced society, some things are not considered a luxury anymore. For instance, a mobile phone is no longer considered a luxury, it is a necessity to participate in society wherever we are in 2026. The definition of poverty itself has changed and the income levels for one to be considered poor is also changed. However, I am also subscribed to the idea of hidden poverty which does not fall into the common standards and statistics. Think about a struggling gen Z with debt repayment more than their earned income. The debt could come from school loans, car payments etc.

I came across this book Poverty by America when I was browsing for a free e-book in my google play as I am currently interested in the social commentary genre. Unfortunately, this book is paid and wasn't quite cheap for me. But since I wanted to delve into poverty alleviation and learned more from it, I decided to get it.

From the book, one thing that strikes me the most is the idea that poverty fosters distrust of the government or any governing bodies. Many policies created that were supposed to help people living under poverty, ended up seen as ineffective and demeaning. Reflecting on that, this case does not only happen in the US but also in Indonesia. In fact, Indonesian has this saying that those who protest on the street are typically unemployed and are happy to get paid to protest. That is indirectly saying that protesters are those on the poverty line rather than those middle to upper class echelons of the society.

The book suggests that government help alone won't be enough to alleviate poverty. It encourages us to be poverty abolitionists, helping each other to reduce the burden of being poor.

I would recommend this book for anyone looking to learn about social commentary and specifically about poverty. If you are trying to get out of poverty too, whether it's financial and mindset included, this book is for you. It explores the nature of it and how as individuals and collectively we can combat poverty.