I grew up in Milwaukee and worked in
housing enforcement for some years, so this book, Evicted, drew my interest. It is an
ethnography of eight families—some living in a predominately black, poor
neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side, and the others in a trailer park on the
edge of the city’s south side, an area that is historically white. Some of the
people that are central to the book are Arleen, an African-American single
mother of two boys; Scott, a nurse and heroin addict; Lamarr, who lost both his
legs to frostbite; and Venetta, who participates in a holdup after her hours
are cut at work. The only people who profit from the renters’ hardships are the
landlords—Sherrena, a former teacher turned slumlord, and Tobin, the out of
state trailer park owner. The author, a Harvard associate professor and winner
of a MacArthur genius grant, advocates for a universal housing voucher program,
so that tenants don’t have to spend most of their income on substandard
housing.
Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbol
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
I Shot the Buddha by Colin Cotterill
Slayground by Richard Stark
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Evicted: poverty and profit in the American city by Matthew Desmond
This Old Murder by Valerie Wolzien
December Dread by Jess Lourey
