The Rich And The Rest Of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
What's so great about this book is that Smiley and West concentrate so many huge issues into a bigger picture narrative, woven into a history of poverty in this country, and highlighting ideas of where we can and NEED to go. You won't find details here so much as generalizations, with clear indicators to help you pull your thoughts together, and find more specifics elsewhere. This is the kind of book anybody can read, and that's a great thing -- it's a book a lot of people need. What I hoped for in picking this up for a research paper I intended on writing was a fair analysis of poverty in America and an assessment of how this country got to that point. After all, Smiley and West claimed they would take criticisms from both sides in looking at the issue of American poverty.What I received was a typical liberal rant about the super rich, a few sob-stories about poor people (who, rather than making me feel sorry for them, left me even more annoyed, I know, I have no heart), and a nice long complaint about the right, with no mention of any leftist policies that have, at some point, not worked…Whatever. I wasted time reading this.
What do You think about The Rich And The Rest Of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (2012)?
Interesting, but preachy in parts. Some notable ideas.
—jandrea03