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by George Orwell
Nonfiction
The adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-out of two great cities are narrated without self-pity and often with humor. In the tales of both cities we learn some sobering Orwellian truths about poverty and society.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive, hoopla
Audiobook: hoopla
by John Steinbeck
Fiction
Depicts the hardships and suffering endured by the Joads as they journey from Oklahoma to California during the Depression.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive
Audiobook: Libby/OverDrive
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Nonfiction
The author decides to see if she can scratch out a comfortable living in blue-collar America. What’s discovered is a culture of desperation, where workers often take multiple low-paying jobs just to keep a roof overhead. NYT Bestseller and a modern classic.
Book: BCCLS
Audiobook: Libby/OverDrive, hoopla
by Joanne Samuel Goldblum
Nonfiction
Joanne Samuel Goldblum, CEO and founder of the National Diaper Bank Network, and Colleen Shaddox, a journalist and activist, give a book shedding light on the realities faced by those living in poverty across the United States and provide a road map for eradicating poverty via policy changes
Book: BCCLS
by Knut Hamsun
Fiction
Tells the story of an unnamed vagrant who stumbles around the streets of Norway’s capital looking for food. Hamsun creates a stunning portrait of poverty and a biting social commentary on modern urban life.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive, hoopla
by Katherine Boo
Nonfiction
In this fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human. Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive
Audiobook: Libby/OverDrive
by Kristin Hannah
Fiction
A powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive
Audiobook: Libby/OverDrive
by Lauren Sandler
Nonfiction
Award-winning journalist Lauren Sandler tells the story of a year in Camila’s life–from the birth of her son to his first birthday–as she navigates the labyrinth of poverty and homelessness in America.
Book: BCCLS
by Ryan Berg
Nonfiction
Ryan Berg tells profoundly moving, intimate, and raw stories from the frontlines of LGBTQ homelessness and foster care. In the United States, 43% of homeless youth were forced out by their parents because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Berg faced young people who have battled extreme poverty, experienced unbalanced opportunities, structural racism, and homophobia.
Book: BCCLS
by Jeff Madrick
Nonfiction
By official count, more than one out of every six American children live beneath the poverty line. But statistics alone tell little of the story. Invisible Americans brings to light the often invisible reality and irreparable damage of child poverty in America.
Book: BCCLS
by Stephanie Land
Nonfiction
A journalist describes the years she worked in low-paying domestic work under wealthy employers, contrasting the privileges of the upper-middle class to the realities of the overworked laborers supporting them.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive
Audiobook: Libby/OverDrive
by Matthew Desmond
Nonfiction
Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, this masterful book transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
Book: BCCLS
eBook: Libby/OverDrive
Audiobook: Libby/OverDrive
by Elliot Liebow
Nonfiction
A moving and illuminating study of women living in homeless shelters.
Book: BCCLS
by Janice Erlbaum
Nonfiction
After running away from home at age 15, Erlbaum spent years going from youth shelter to shelter, a self-described “halfway homeless” high school student afflicted with a taste for hard drugs and risky choices, while attending high school.
Book: BCCLS
by John Steinbeck
Fiction
The book portrays a group of paisanos—literally, countrymen—a small band of errant friends enjoying life and wine in the days after the end of World War I.
Book: BCCLS