The adventures of a broke British writer as he works as a dishwasher in Paris and stays in homeless shelters in London.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption....

Overview: In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city children he has known for many years, Jonathan Kozol returns to the scene of his prize-winning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace, and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into adulthood. For nearly fifty years, Jonathan has pricked the conscience of his readers by laying bare...

"Because I was bad in my last life." "Because Allah has willed it." "Because the rich do nothing for the poor." "Because the poor do nothing for themselves." "Because it is my destiny." These are just some of the answers to the simple yet groundbreaking question William T. Vollmann asks in cities and villages around the globe: "Why are you poor?" In the tradition of James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, writer Vollmann struggles to confront poverty...

After her farm for widows and orphans is devastated by fire in 1884, Christina Willems is determined to reopen it despite opposition. She finds an unlikely ally in local lumber mill owner Levi Johnson. Having been hurt by people in the past, Levi prefers solitude. But young Tommy Kilgore, one of Christina's residents, worms his way into Levi's affections. When Tommy and Christina are threatened, will Levi reach out and find healing from the scars...

What J.D. needs is a little peace quiet. One tranquil evening, he takes off on a ride in the country -- and promptly has car trouble. He asks for help at an old farmhouse and finds a family living in abject poverty, and vows to help. When he returns with groceries, he can't find them or the house -- although he's not lost. While J.D. struggles to make sense of this riddle, his behavior creates doubt in his marriage, and his best friend thinks he's...

"A provocative examination of our health care delivery for the poor. . . . Such an honest and candid account is essential." —Alex Kotlowitz, national bestselling author of There Are No Children Here
Mama Might Be Better Off Dead immerses readers in the lives of four generations of a poor, African-American family from North Lawndale, Chicago, who are beset with the devastating illnesses that are all too common in America's...

Living in harsh poverty during a brutal Idaho winter, Jack searches for the drug money that sent his father to prison in order to keep his brother out of foster care, while Ava, under the control of her merciless father, makes a wrenching choice to help the brothers survive. Jack Morton has nothing left. Except his younger brother, Matty, who he'd do anything for. Even die for. Now with their mother gone, and their funds quickly dwindling, Jack needs...

"Fugitive Rachel Nolander is a newcomer the city of Dogsland, where the rich throw parties and the poor just do whatever they can to scrape by. Supported by her brother Djoss, she hides out in their squalid apartment, living in fear that someday, someone will find out that she is the child of a demon. Corporal Jona Lord Joni is a demon's child too, but instead of living in fear, he keeps his secret and goes about his life as a cocky, self-assured...

"The Battle with the Slum," an arresting account of New York City's blighted areas. His exploration of the squalor found in Lower East Side tenements was groundbreaking. In the 1880's, up to 335,000 people lived within one square mile, making it the most densely populated place on earth. 10 to 15 persons occupied one room, creating rampant disease, hunger, and crime. By writing such captivating reportage on the conditions, public attention eventually...