Abandoned in the Heartland

Book excerpt: "Politicians today giddily cut taxes and public services without considering the consequences. Read this sensitive portrait of East St. Louis to understand the social costs of government abandonment. Families can and do survive amidst the crumbling infrastructure. But without decent jobs, medical care, and housing, their daily lives are filled with danger and desperation. Hamer makes an urgent case for reinvesting in the American Dream.” —Christine L. Williams, Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin “Abandoned in the Heartland presents a unique portrait relative to the common vision of urban poverty in America. In doing so, it allows for broader and healthier thinking about what it means to be poor in a community of people who share that status." --Alford Young, Jr., Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, University of Michigan, and author of The Minds of Marginalized Black Men