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$2.00 a Day
Cover of $2.00 a Day
$2.00 a Day
Living on Almost Nothing in America
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A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
The story of a kind of poverty in America so deep that we, as a country, don't even think exists—from a leading national poverty expert who "defies convention." (The New York Times)
Jessica Compton's family of four would have no income if she didn't donate plasma twice a week at her local donation center in Tennessee. Modonna Harris and her teenage daughter, Brianna, in Chicago, often have no food but spoiled milk on weekends.
After two decades of brilliant research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn't seen before—households surviving on virtually no cash income. Edin teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on calculating incomes of the poor, to discover that the number of American families living on $2.00 per person, per day, was one and a half million households, including about three million children. Where do these families live? How did they get so desperately poor?
Through this book's eye-opening analysis and many compelling profiles, moving and startling answers emerge. $2.00 a Day delivers provocative ideas to our national debate on income inequality.
"Powerful . . . Presents a deeply moving human face that brings the stunning numbers to life. It is an explosive book . . . The stories will make you angry and break your heart."—American Prospect
"Harrowing . . . [An] important and heart-rending book, in the tradition of Michael Harrington's The Other America."—Los Angeles Times
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
The story of a kind of poverty in America so deep that we, as a country, don't even think exists—from a leading national poverty expert who "defies convention." (The New York Times)
Jessica Compton's family of four would have no income if she didn't donate plasma twice a week at her local donation center in Tennessee. Modonna Harris and her teenage daughter, Brianna, in Chicago, often have no food but spoiled milk on weekends.
After two decades of brilliant research on American poverty, Kathryn Edin noticed something she hadn't seen before—households surviving on virtually no cash income. Edin teamed with Luke Shaefer, an expert on calculating incomes of the poor, to discover that the number of American families living on $2.00 per person, per day, was one and a half million households, including about three million children. Where do these families live? How did they get so desperately poor?
Through this book's eye-opening analysis and many compelling profiles, moving and startling answers emerge. $2.00 a Day delivers provocative ideas to our national debate on income inequality.
"Powerful . . . Presents a deeply moving human face that brings the stunning numbers to life. It is an explosive book . . . The stories will make you angry and break your heart."—American Prospect
"Harrowing . . . [An] important and heart-rending book, in the tradition of Michael Harrington's The Other America."—Los Angeles Times
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About the Author-
  • KATHRYN J. EDIN is the William Church Osborne Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. The author of nine books, Edin is widely recognized for using both quantitative research and direct, in-depth observation to illuminate key mysteries about poverty: "In a field of poverty experts who rarely meet the poor, Edin usefully defies convention" (New York Times).

Reviews-
  • Publisher's Weekly

    Starred review from June 22, 2015
    This slim, searing look at extreme poverty deftly mixes policy research and heartrending narratives from a swath of the 1.5 million American households eking out an existence on cash incomes of $2 per person per day. Edin and Shaefer, respectively professors at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan, trace the history of welfare in the U.S. up to the cuts enacted by President Clinton. They also explore the worlds of the desperately impoverished, profiling people who are able to find, at best, low-wage jobs with no bargaining power. Their subjects’ wrenching stories demonstrate the huge obstacles created by unstable housing and prevalent racial discrimination. Edin and Shaefer examine the many survival strategies used by the very poor to generate cash, including selling plasma, trading food stamps for discounted cash payments, and even selling their children’s Social Security numbers to people with fixed addresses, which the poorest lack. The strain of “the work of survival” has not defeated every person depicted in this book, but when a Mississippi teen is quoted saying that constant hunger can make you “feel like you want to be dead,” it’s impossible to ignore the high costs of abject poverty. Mixing academic seriousness and deft journalistic storytelling, this work may well move readers to positive action. Agent: Lisa Adams, Garamond Agency.

  • Library Journal

    August 1, 2015

    In their research, coauthors Edin (sociology & public health, Johns Hopkins; Promises I Can't Keep) and Shaefer (Univ. of Michigan Sch. of Social Work) easily found people living on less than two dollars a day in every region of the United States. This ease could be equated to a staggering number uncovered from Shaefer's findings: "In early 2011, 1.5 million households with roughly 3 million children were surviving on cash income of no more than $2.00 per person, per day in any given month." The authors reveal that despite the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, which sought to reform welfare, the number of individuals living below the poverty line continues to increase. Those documented wish to be part of a transformation that will take them beyond poverty. They strive for a 40-hour workweek, safe housing with affordable rent, and enough income to have food on the table every day. This book explains what happens to individuals who are still struggling to reach working-poor status after a government safety net is removed. VERDICT A must-read, whether you are for or against helping the poor in America.--Angela Forret, Clive P.L., IA

    Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

  • Publisher's Weekly

    November 30, 2015
    Edin and Shaefer’s book explores life for the millions of people in the U.S. living on less than two dollars a day. Interweaving statistics, reports, and personal accounts, they contrast daily life for the working poor around the U.S. They draw a vivid picture of the challenges, sacrifices, and no-win situations that many people are subject to on a daily basis as a means of survival. With a soft but clear delivery, Johnson captures listeners’ attention and maintains it throughout, always projecting strong conviction in the words she is narrating. She has a steady voice that provides the right amount of emphasis when needed and can smoothly transition into distinct character voices when required. She captures the sincerity and the seriousness of the authors’ words, which makes listening all the more powerful than reading. A Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover.

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$2.00 a Day
$2.00 a Day
Living on Almost Nothing in America
Kathryn J. Edin
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