Writings about poverty and hunger expand quickly these days. Scholars, politicians, media personalities and advocates of all stripes are busily writing down their thoughts, citing statistics and recalling anecdotes to support their views. Below are references that our staff finds useful. Please add your own and share with us!

NON-FICTION

• Blackside, Inc. America's New War on Poverty
  1995. A companion reader to the recent PBS series about the War on Poverty, this compilation of essays and excerpts speaks about the many facets of poverty in America, citing numerous illuminating facts and statistics, as well as some methodologies for addressing these issues.
• Coles, Robert. The Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism
  1993. Coles interviews fascinating people who have dedicated time and energy in service to their communities.
• DeGraf, John, and others. Affluenza
  2002. Based on the PBS documentary.
Edelman, Marian Wright. Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change
1987. Based on Edelman's 1986 W.E.B. Dubois Lectures, this book gives an eloquently argued case for a broad national agenda to fight childhood poverty. (Edelman is the executive director of the Children's Defense Fund.)
• Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Making it in America
  2001. This book gives us a compelling look at the challenges of being a part or America's growing working poor. Ehrenreich takes a year out of her freelance life to try making it in the low wage work force.
• Ellwood, David T. Poor Support
  1988. Ellwood offers a wealth of information and data about the characteristics of poor people and the American welfare state, debunking many of the popular misconceptions that have been associated with poverty and the notion of welfare dependency.
• Harrington, Michael. The New American Poverty
  1984. Harrington's reassessment of the issues just a few years before his death.
• Harrington, Michael. The Other America
  1962. A cornerstone in social analysis, Harrington's story of "hidden poverty" in the United States served as the basis of the War on Poverty.
• Jones, Jacqueline. The Dispossessed: America's Underclasses from the Civil War to the Present
  1992. A well-written account of the historical roots of the underclass, following the development of the 19th century Southern poor, both black and white.
• Katz, Michael. In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America
  Describes how poverty existed and was dealt with by government and private groups throughout American history, from the colonial period to the presen
t.
• Katz, Michael. The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare
  1989. Focusing on the last three decades, Katz's historical analysis follows the course of debate over issues of hunger and poverty in America referring to the differential treatment given to the "deserving' and "undeserving" poor.
• Kotlowitz, Alex. There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America
  1991. A powerful personal account of the lives of two families in the Chicago ghetto.
• Kozol, Jonathon. Rachel and Her Children, Homeless Families in America. 1989
  A deeply personal analysis of homelessness, which centers on the travails of one homeless family.
• Kozol, Jonathon. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools 1991.
  Through a strong personal account, Kozol outlines the inequalities in school expenditures and facilities between poor and rich children in America.
• Lappe, Frances Moore and Collins, Joseph and Rosset, Peter. World Hunger: Twelve Myths
  1998. Addresses the myths about hunger and poverty that keep us from adequately approaching and addressing the problem.
• LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole. Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
  2003. LeBlanc provides a profoundly intimate portrait of a teenager, her family and a community in the Bronx throughout the 90's. It illuminates the complicated and many layered challenge of poverty. "The lives of teenagers are demonized in the same way that those of children are sentimentalized. When these lives unfold in places exhausted by poverty and it's related burdens, the texture of their real experiences is obscured…" Adrian LeBlanc.
• Marmour, Theodore R. and Jerry L. Mashaw and Phillip L. Harvey. America's Misunderstood Welfare State: Persistent Myths, Enduring Realities
  1990. In separate chapters, analyzes the myths of the American system.
• Newman, Katherine. No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City
  2000. Katherine Newman explores the explosion of working poverty in urban America.
• Phillips, Kevin. Wealth and Democracy
  2002. A social criticism and economic history of plutocracy, excess and reform.
• Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation
  2001. "Schlosser documents the effects of fast food on America's economy, its youth culture, and allied industries, such as meatpacking, that serve this vast food production empire."
• West, Cornel. Race Matters A collection of valuable essays from one of our principal social critics. West allows his readers to see race as a lens through which Americans view life.

FICTION

• Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina
  A well-written and deeply engaging story of a young girl growing up in poverty during the 1950's and 60's.
• Armstrong, William and Barkley, James. Sounder
  This is the story of an African American sharecropper family in the late 19th century south.
• Arnow, Harriet. The Dollmaker
  An enormously popular novel from the late 1940's, The Dollmaker is the dramatic story of an Appalachian family's move from the mountains of Kentucky to wartime Detroit.
• Baldwin, James. Another Country
  A genius of American fiction, this is one of Baldwin's most eloquent statements about the intersection of race and class.
• Ellison, Ralph. The Invisible Man
  A classic novel about the manner in which we refuse to see each other and the effects this has on our lives.
• Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine
  Lends insight into life on and off Native American reservations.
• Islas, Arthur. Migrant Souls
  A tale of the conflicts of a Chicano family in south Texas.
• Morgan, Robert. Gap Creek: A Story of a Marriage
  1999. A view of life at the turn of the century and the strength and grit required to gather, make and prepare food and the utter dependence upon nature.
• Morrison, Toni.
  • The Bluest Eye
  Beloved
  • Jazz
  
  Any work by Morrison speaks to the soul of our nation's character, dealing with the issues of race, class, and gender, as well as the basic struggles of human existence.
• Mukherjee, Bharati. The Middleman
  A National Book Critics Circle award winner about recent immigrants' struggle to survive in the United States.

CHILDREN and YOUTH FICTION

• Carlson, Nancy; Williams, Garth. The Family Under the Bridge
  Originally, 1958. Reissued, 1989. The story of a hobo named Armand who live in Paris under a bridge. He suddenly finds himself helping care for a newly homeless family. ( Ages 9-11, great for family reading.)
• Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy
  1999. The story of Bud Caldwell, a ten-year-old boy on his own, on a journey to find his unknown father in depression era Michigan
• Greenwald, Shelia. My Fabulous New Life
  1993. An 11-year-old girl adjusts to new neighborhood in Manhattan. (For middle school students.)
• Mathis, Sharon Bell. Sidewalk Story
  1986. The story of a young girl who comes to the aid of a friend and her family being evicted from an apartment across the street. Her compassion causes others to sit up and take notice. This is a wonderful introduction to advocacy.
• Neufield, John. Almost a Hero
  1995. Young boy in Santa Barbara does community service assignment at a childcare center for homeless children.

STORIES FOR THE YOUNG CHILD

• Bunting, Eve. Fly Away Home
  1991. A tender story about a boy and his father who live in the airport. This is a good story to introduce children to the issues of homelessness.
• McGovern, Ann. The Lady in the Box
  1997. Two young children aid an elderly homeless woman and in doing so, become her friend. This story is a wonderful way to introduce children to the issue of homelessness and also ways they can be of service in community.
• DiSalvo-Ryan, Dyanne. Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen
  1991. The story of a young boys introduction to work in a community kitchen. He learns from his Uncle Willie about how to help and support those living in poverty in his community.