Homelessness Books

The Homeless

Christopher Jencks

List Price: $25.00 By: Harvard University Press Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $1.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The best work on the subject 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 21 people found this review helpful.

Jencks is one of the best sociologists in the world. He is a liberal, but you would not know it from this work (not that this work is 'conservative'). Here what you get is concise, well investigated and well written social science by one of the best. Jencks calmly demolishes myths about the homeless, and then walks through the various causal explanations offered by the right and left. Where he finds support he publishes it, and thats a lot considering the politicized nature of much social science. This book, though dated now, would be essential reading for those who want to understand or help the homeless in the U.S.. What really impresses me about his work is his humility about what social science does and can do while demonstrating its merits through his analysis.

Editorial Review:

How widespread is homelessness, how did it happen, and what can be done about it? These are the questions explored by Christopher Jencks, America's foremost analyst of social problems. Jencks examines the standard explanations and finds that the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, the invention of crack cocaine, rising joblessness among men, declining marriage rates, cuts in welfare benefits, and the destruction of skid row have all played a role. Changes in the housing market have had less impact than many claim, however, and real federal housing subsidies actually doubled during the 1980s. Not confining his mission to studying the homeless, Jencks proposes several practical approaches to helping the homeless.

Sleepaway School: A Memoir

Lee Stringer

Amazon Price: $12.38 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Seven Stories Press Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $1.66

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"In Sleepaway School, a boy becomes a man. The way Lee Stringer tells it, that is by itself more than enough for an enthralling story."-Kurt Vonnegut, from the foreword

"In a riveting memoir, the author of the acclaimed Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street (1998) goes back to his 1960s troubled childhood as a foster kid growing up poor and black in a wealthy white neighborhood in upstate New York. . . . Told in more than 30 connected stories, the eloquent, present-tense narrative has the immediacy of Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life. . . . It's an unforgettable coming of age."-Hazel Rochman, Booklist (starred review)

"Lee Stringer proves that talent travels. In Sleepaway School, he hones the sharp wit and keen perception that made Grand Central Winter so memorable to create a lyrical and deeply moving tribute to a troubled childhood. Most memoirists are well out of gas by their second book; Stringer is taking off and heading for the clouds. He is an authentic original voice."-Peter Blauner, author of The Intruder and The Last Good Day.

"The most surprising thing about Sleepaway School is that it is not grim. In fact, much of it is lighthearted and free from bitterness. Caverly's voice is appealing, and his innocence and helplessness are convincingly conveyed."-Rocky Mountain News

Lee Stringer is the author of the acclaimed Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street, a New York Times Notable Book and USA Today Top Ten pick, which has been translated into a dozen languages. He also is the author, with Kurt Vonnegut, of Like Shaking Hands With God: A Conversation About Writing. He currently serves on three nonprofit boards: Project Renewal in New York City, the Friends of the Mamaroneck Library, and the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester.

Tell Them Who I Am

Elliot Liebow

List Price: $27.95 By: Free Press Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $0.14

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 1967, Elliot Liebow, writing as a participant-observer, published Tally's Corner, a pathbreaking study of black streetcorner life. Coming at a time when Americans were just beginning to understand the moral demand for improvement in the lives of urban blacks, Liebow's book made its readers see for the first time the human reality behind the stereotypes and myths about black life. Now, in Tell Them Who I Am, his first book in over 20 years, Liebow similarly dispels myths surrounding homelessness, revealing the actual diversity, humanity, and dignity that lie behind popular images of the homeless. In Tell Them Who I Am, Liebow carefully investigates and documents the patterns and routines of homeless women. These are not the most visible homeless, Liebow tells us, not the "throwaway" homeless we see on the street. Rather they are members of the larger but less visible majority of people who are homeless but who still retain connections with society. These are people who have fallen into homelessness for many reasons; some may rise again, and some will sink. Their daily lives are thus a struggle not merely to survive but to keep alive their hope - and their humanity - in the face of what for many are insuperable obstacles. Through the women's own words and Liebow's thoughtful and sympathetic commentary, Tell Them Who I Am examines every aspect of their lives; the variety of jobs the women have, as well as the obstacles which prevent some from obtaining employment; relationships with family members, friends, and lovers, both within and outside the shelter; conflicts with the shelter staff and the need to maintain a sense of privacy in a public environment; the frustrations of dealingwith an inefficient and underfunded public bureaucracy; and the struggle to maintain a fragile sense of community in the face of such destructive forces as racism and mental illness. Elliot Liebow brings the maturity of a lifetime's work as one of America's most sensitive and admired urban anthropologists to bear on this painful subject. He shows a side of our society - the lower tier - that few have seen, and argues that only through a deeper understanding of poverty and its consequences will we ever be able to address successfully the problem of homelessness.

Homelessness In America

Amazon Price: $69.95 List Price: $69.95 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: Oryx Press Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $5.59

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent resource for issues and causes of homelessness. 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Homelessness in America is a comprehensive resource that examines the issues and causes of homelessness in the U.S., from poverty to housing, substance abuse, mental illness, race, and more. Wonderful stats, studies, and insights. As an employee of a rescue mission, I found this book helpful in understanding the homeless people we serve and in educating the public about their plight.

Editorial Review:

The number of homeless people in America has continued to grow at an alarming rate since the 1970s. Yet many members of the general public still have far more questions than answers about the magnitude and implications of this complex social problem and the reasons for its persistence. Now the answers can be found in Homelessness in America, the most current, comprehensive, and authoritative volume available on this subject. Focusing on the broad social issue of homelessness, the book's 19 essays offer in-depth examinations of policy-related issues by noted social workers, researchers, advocates, and other experts in the field. Chapter topics include the causes and prevention of homelessness, national and local advocacy movements, the local regulation of public space, and current policies on employment, income maintenance, and housing. Up-to-date statistics and tables are included along with an extensive bibliography and an appendix listing national or state advocacy organizations.

Down and Out in America: The Origins of Homelessness

Peter H. Rossi

Amazon Price: $22.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: University Of Chicago Press Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $2.33

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Tired of reading the same old zhit about "The Homeless"? 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Are you tired of reading the same old zhit about "The Homeless"? Then check out "SURVIVING ON THE STREET" by me, Ace Backwords, which is actually written by an actual homeless person. Check out the site on amazon.com for what the readers are saying about it.

Editorial Review:

The most accurate and comprehensive picture of homelessness to date, this study offers a powerful explanation of its causes, proposes short- and long-term solutions, and documents the striking contrasts between the homeless of the 1950s and 1960s and the contemporary homeless population, which is younger and contains more women, children, and blacks.

Street and Working Children (Save the Children Development Manuals.)

Judith Ennew

By: Save the Children Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $21.03

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The Tunnel: The Underground Homeless of New York City (Architecture of Despair)

Margaret Morton

List Price: $26.00 By: Yale University Press Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $17.41

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of the oldest surviving homeless communities in New York City has been hidden from public view in an underground train tunnel since the 1970s. Residents dwell in continual darkness along the two-and-a-half mile stretch, which is penetrated only by shafts of light angling through air vents. The residents who have been there longest live alongside the tracks in cinder block bunkers originally used by railroad personnel. Other residents are hidden high above the tracks in recessed niches that are accessible only by climbing. More recent tunnel dwellers have built freestanding structures in the dark alcoves of the tunnel or perched themselves on concrete ledges. This work, the first in a group of three books documenting the lives and living spaces of New York City's homeless population, is narrated entirely by tunnel residents. Margaret Morton's photographs combine with four years of audiotaped oral histories to create an archive of individuals living in an extraordinary social, political and economic condition.

Settlement Folk: Social Thought and the American Settlement Movement, 1885-1930

Mina Carson

Amazon Price: $45.00 List Price: $45.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: University Of Chicago Press Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $7.98

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Editorial Review:

Mina Carson deftly merges social and intellectual history to reconsider the settlement movement—its Anglo-American roots and evolution, its conflicts and accomplishments. Carson focuses her study on the careers and ideas of settlement founders and leaders, among them Jane Addams, Robert Woods, Mary Simkhovitch, Lillian Wald, and Graham Taylor. She demonstrates how these influential, often charismatic leaders appropriated and adapted certain Victorian values—such as the Social Gospel and the religion of character—to their visions of urban reform through action and experimentation.

These extraordinary individuals left an enduring legacy of beliefs about professional and voluntary responsibility for welfare services. As Carson shows, however, their genius for image creation and their myriad connections with other intellectual and social leaders extended the influence of the settlement ideology in many directions: fostering new attitudes toward the American city and the equality of the sexes, initiating a new social-scientific approach to social problems, and shaping the self-definition of the American educated middle class.

The New Poverty: Homeless Families in America

Ralph Dacosta Nunez, Ralph Da Costa Nunez

Amazon Price: $20.50 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 10 to 12 days By: Insight Books Inc Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $0.93

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Editorial Review:

This compelling work describes the underlying forces driving the growth of family homelessness in America. It is the first definitive work to quantitatively demonstrate that homelessness is not simply a housing issue but rather one of a severe poverty not seen in this country since the 1930s.

In the midst of the current tense political climate, The New Poverty will educate and enlighten the public on the history and realities of family homelessness and give policy makers and academics the substantive material they need to make decisions and develop meaningful social policy.

Written by Homes for the Homeless President Ralph Nunez, with a forward by Leonard N. Stern, Founder of Homes for the Homeless, this book offers a blueprint for ending family homelessness and chronic welfare dependency nationwide.

Citizens Without Shelter: Homelessness, Democracy, And Political Exclusion

Leonard C. Feldman

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cornell University Press Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $7.50

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Editorial Review:

One of the most troubling aspects of the politics of homelessness, Leonard C. Feldman contends, is the reduction of the homeless to what Hannah Arendt calls "the abstract nakedness of being human and nothing but human" and what Giorgio Agamben terms "bare life." Feldman argues that the politics of alleged compassion and the politics of those interested in ridding public spaces of the homeless are linked fundamentally in their assumption that homeless people are something less than citizens. Feldman’s book brings political theories together (including theories of sovereign power, justice, and pluralism) with discussions of real-world struggles and close analyses of legal cases concerning the rights of the homeless.

In Feldman’s view, the "bare life predicament" is a product not simply of poverty or inequality, but of an inability to commit to democratic pluralism. Challenging this reduction of the homeless, Citizens without Shelter examines opportunities for contesting such a fundamental political exclusion, in the service of homeless citizenship and a more robust form of democratic pluralism. Feldman has in mind a truly democratic pluralism that would include a pluralization of the category of "home" to enable multiple forms of dwelling; a recognition of the common dwelling activities of homeless and non-homeless persons; and a resistance to laws that punish or confine the homeless.