"Look at all the advances we've made in the last 50 years, look at the way that culture and medicine and technology and science have advanced since the Beatles broke up, since we were involved in Vietnam, but the poverty rate has been incredibly stubbornly persistent and I think it's rather shameful for the richest country in the history of the world."

Reading Matthew Desmond's books will make you smarter­, break your heart, make you mad, and push you to think differently about poverty — all in the same moment. Poverty, by America is his follow-up to his landmark book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Desmond joins us on the show to talk about going where the data takes him, the human cost of poverty, the gig economy, writing in community, what a post-poverty would could look like, and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer.

Featured Books:

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).