The Souls of Poor Folk

by Charles Lattimore Howard (Editor)

Overview

The Souls of Poor Folk is a collection of essays in the tradition of W.E.B. Du Bois's classic The Souls of Black Folk. The essays move between the scholarly, the narrative, and the testimonial just as they do in Du Bois's book. This text is meant to be a contribution to the critical dialogue around ways to alleviate poverty in our world. The contributors are diverse in their experience, origin, perspectives, and beliefs about the appropriate means to alleviate poverty and its many causes.

This book is an essential companion to a multimedia initiative featuring a documentary and original music compilation available on compact disc that invites readers, listeners, and viewers to journey beyond the veil that hides the scars and blemishes of social problems, such as homelessness and poverty, especially in America. To learn more about the successful non-profit "Greater Love Project" initiative or to purchase other companion items including the CD, please visit: www.thesoulsofpoorfolk.org.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761838562
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/13/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.26(d)

Table of Contents

Part 1 Preface
Part 2 Acknowledgements
Part 3 The Forethought
Chapter 4 Long Ways from Home: Motions, Memories, and Katrina's Storm Surge
Chapter 5 From Refugee Camps to the City of the Dead: Poverty in the Middle East
Chapter 6 Come and See: A Theology of the Poor
Chapter 7 Tears in the Sudan
Chapter 8 American Goddamn: God and Hip Hop in an Age of War, Terror, and Dread
Chapter 9 Strategies for Raising Poverty in America as a Violation of International Human Rights Law
Chapter 10 Silent Pulpits: A Historical Examination of Black Christian Engagement with Capitalism
Part 11 Afterword

Editorial Reviews

The Souls of Poor Folk sensitively describes the societal and human costs of extreme poverty in a world that possesses extraordinary wealth and resources. In so doing, Chaz Howard and the other contributors to the book raise perhaps the most significant question of our time: What is to be done to overcome poverty so that ALL human beings are able to lead healthy, productive, and happy lives? They are to be congratulated for their passionate call for serious thought and effective action.

Ira Harvavy

The Souls of Poor Folk looks to do for class and poverty what The Souls of Black Folk did for race and racism. In that spirit, it represents an important meditation on the realities of and possible remedies for poverty on a global scale. The contributors have done an impressive job, offering a searing portrait of the lived experience of poverty, just as they lay out possible solutions to one of the most pressing issues facing the world community in the new century. The fact that this project is multimedia only makes it that much more important and the possibility of its impact that much greater.

Samir Meghelli

This precious book enacts and exemplifies the genius of poor Black people-facing catastrophic circumstances with grace, intelligence, beauty, and resilience. In our post-Katrina world, let us never forget this grand tradition of genius!

Cornel West

The Souls of Poor Folk is a moving, challenging, wide-ranging collection. Readers will be touched and instructed, as well as grateful, for the obvious gifts of these authors and the passion and care they show their subject. I heartily commend this work.

Larry Rasmussen

The Souls of Poor Folk looks to do for class and poverty what The Souls of Black Folk did for race and racism. In that spirit, it represents an important meditation on the realities of and possible remedies for poverty on a global scale. The contributors have done an impressive job, offering a searing portrait of the lived experience of poverty, just as they lay out possible solutions to one of the most pressing issues facing the world community in the new century. The fact that this project is multimedia only makes it that much more important and the possibility of its impact that much greater.--Samir Meghelli, Columbia University, Co-author of Tha Global Cipha: Hip Hop Culture and Consciousness

The Souls of Poor Folk sensitively describes the societal and human costs of extreme poverty in a world that possesses extraordinary wealth and resources. In so doing, Chaz Howard and the other contributors to the book raise perhaps the most significant question of our time: What is to be done to overcome poverty so that ALL human beings are able to lead healthy, productive, and happy lives? They are to be congratulated for their passionate call for serious thought and effective action.--Ira Harvavy, Associate Vice President and founding Director of the Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania

The Souls of Poor Folk is a moving, challenging, wide-ranging collection. Readers will be touched and instructed, as well as grateful, for the obvious gifts of these authors and the passion and care they show their subject. I heartily commend this work.--Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary

From the Publisher