The Underclass

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Overview

First published as a three-part series in The New Yorker. The Underclass is one of a handful of studies of class and society in America that are destined to endure. Updated by the author to reflect current realities. Ken Auletta's masterful reportage remains as relevant as ever to an American society increasingly divided into the extremely rich and the desperately poor.

Auletta began with a seemingly simple goal--to find out who, exactly, make up the poorest of the poor, and to ...

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1982 Hard cover First edition. New in very good dust jacket. book as new, dj creases on edges, assorted slight tears, still bright colorful Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 348 p. ... Audience: General/trade. Read more Show Less

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1st Edition, Fine-/Fine 1/8" DJ tear head of spine & very faint dust foxing specks on top page ends, o.w. clean, tight & bright. NO ink names, bookplates, etc. Price ... unclipped. ISBN 0394523431 Read more Show Less

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More About This Book

Overview

First published as a three-part series in The New Yorker. The Underclass is one of a handful of studies of class and society in America that are destined to endure. Updated by the author to reflect current realities. Ken Auletta's masterful reportage remains as relevant as ever to an American society increasingly divided into the extremely rich and the desperately poor.

Auletta began with a seemingly simple goal--to find out who, exactly, make up the poorest of the poor, and to trace the many paths that took them there. As he follows 250 hardened members of the underclass, Auletta focuses on efforts to help them reconstruct their lives and find a functional place in mainstream society. Through the lives of the men and women he encounters, Auletta discovers the complex truths that have made hard-core poverty in America such an intractable problem.

In a nation where poverty and welfare rolls are declining but the underclass persists, the United States is as conflicted as ever about its responsibilities toward all its people. Thus, The Underclass is as incredibly lucid and pertinent as ever.

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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
LJ's reviewer dubbed this 1982 volume, now out of print, "a moving narrative on the American `underclass'--that 30 percent of the nation's poor who cannot readily enter the mainstream." In this updated edition, the author adds an analysis of the situation since the original publication. (LJ 5/1/82) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Booknews
Auletta, communications columnist for , investigates those who make up the poorest of the poor, and traces the many paths that took them there. He follows 250 members of the hard-core underclass and discovers complex truths that have made poverty in American such an intractable problem. First published in 1982 as a three-part series in . This edition is revised and updated, and contains a new introduction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780394523439
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 4/12/1982
  • Pages: 348

Table of Contents

Introduction 11
1 The BT-27 Class 27
2 Profile of the Underclass: Its Size, Causes and Effects 37
3 The Class Versus the Experts 84
4 Howard Smith: Life-Skills Teacher 99
5 Single Mothers: "The Feminization of Poverty" 104
6 BT-27 on Broken Families, Unemployment, Racism, Crime ... 118
7 Crime: The Law-Enforcement View 136
8 The "Welfare Mentality" 155
9 BT-27: Goals and Obstacles 171
10 BT-27 After Ten Weeks 183
11 Who Is to Blame, the System or the Individual? 195
12 Appalachia: The White Underclass 209
13 The Rural Black Underclass 229
14 Differences: The White, Black and Hispanic Underclass 253
15 BT-27 Graduates 259
16 What Became of the Members of BT-27 270
17 MDRC and Supported Work: Results of a National Experiment 282
18 A Guaranteed Job for Youths: The National Results 300
19 Lingering Questions 311
20 Has There Been Progress in the "War on Poverty"? 316
21 What To Do? The Wholesale Option 332
22 The Laissez-Faire Option 351
23 The Retail Option 361
Epilogue 383
Acknowledgments 387
Bibliography 389
Index 407
About the Author 416
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Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 3, 2001

    Quite thorough

    This book gave an excellent background of both rural and urban poverty. THe only place it faltered was near the end, wehre it lost much of its human emotions.

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