Matthew Desmond has a message: US poverty is immoral
In his powerful, Pulitzer Prize-winning 2016 book “Evicted,” sociologist Matthew Desmond followed eight Milwaukee families facing the loss of their homes. His clearheaded but impassioned follow-up, “Poverty, by America,” examines the stubborn persistence of destitution in the wealthiest country in the world. The author makes the discomfiting argument that better-off Americans benefit, whether knowingly or unknowingly, from the impoverishment of their fellow citizens. Mr. Desmond calls on readers to consider their moral responsibilities to others, in service of an ambitious aim. “I want to
