Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City is a 2016 non-fiction book by the American author Matthew Desmond. Set in the poorest areas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the book follows eight families struggling to pay rent to their landlords during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. It highlights the issues of extreme poverty, affordable housing, and economic exploitation in the United States.[3][4] Desmond advocates for a universal housing voucher program from the U.S. government for families below a certain income threshold so that they pay no more than 30 percent of their income on housing.[5]

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Cover of first edition
Author	Matthew Desmond
Audio read by	Dion Graham[1]
Cover artist	Nina Mangalanayagam (floor photo)[2] Pavel Shynkarou (wall photo)[2] Jake Nicolella (design)[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Sociology, poverty, low-income housing
Set in	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Publisher	Crown
Publication date	March 2016
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	432
Awards	2017 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award 2017 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2017 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism 2017 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize
ISBN	978-0-553-44743-9
OCLC	936126297
Dewey Decimal	339.4/60973
LC Class	HD7287.96.U6 D47 2016
Website	www.evictedbook.com

The book won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. The Pulitzer committee selected the book "for a deeply researched exposé that showed how mass evictions after the 2008 economic crash were less a consequence than a cause of poverty".[6] It also won the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award,[7] the 2017 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction,[8] the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction,[9] the 2017 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism,[10] the 2017 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize[11] and the 2018 Order of the Coif Book Award.[12]

Desmond discusses the book at the 2017 National Book Festival

References

1. "Evicted by Matthew Desmond". Penguin Random House Audio. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
2. Matthew Desmond (2016). Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Crown Publishers. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-553-44743-9.
3. Desmond, Matthew (2016). Evicted. PenguinRandomHouse.
4. Feature: Poverty and Profit In the American City by Matthew Desmond. The Crown Publishing Group. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
5. Desmond, Matthew (2016). Evicted. PenguinRandomHouse.
6. The Pulitzer Committee. "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond". pulitzer.org. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
7. Reid, Calvin (March 17, 2017). "Louise Erdrich, Matthew Desmond Win 2016 NBCC Awards". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
8. "2017 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION". pen.org. PEN America. January 18, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
9. "Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction & Nonfiction | Awards & Grants". ala.org. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
10. "2017 Hillman Prizes". hillmanfoundation.org. Hillman Foundation. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
11. Schoenberg, Nara (May 4, 2017). "'The Underground Railroad,' 'Evicted' win Tribune's Heartland Prizes". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
12. "Order of the Coif Book Awards". orderofthecoif.org. The Order of the Coif. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2018.