The hero's fight : African Americans in West Baltimore and the shadow of the state /

Fernández-Kelly (For We Are Sold, I and My Mother), a senior lecturer in sociology at Princeton University, looks at the underlying issues perpetuating poverty in urban America, using inner-city Baltimore as a test case. For 10 years, Fernandez-Kelly immersed herself in the lives of seven interlinked African-American residents, including a chauffeur turned cab driver; a convert to the Jehovah's Witnesses who anchors her extended family; and an initially promising boy who instead becomes a drug dealer. Combining these biographical narratives with analysis, Fernández-Kelly explores a number of factors that lead to poverty, including a loss of social capital through de facto racial segregation, the disappearance of industrial jobs, and "bureaucratic intrusion." Much of her research focuses on this last point, examining the ambiguous role of public agencies that view clients simultaneously "as hapless victims and conniving scoundrels," effectively diminishing their autonomy and dignity. She concludes that U.S. policy amounts to a "criminalization of poverty," urging new legislation that will foster "social inclusion and material accumulation." Despite a sometimes dry academic tone, this thought-provoking book-and the comprehensive research behind it-could, if heeded, help alleviate some of society's most intractable problems. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A look at how deindustrialization has affected the lives of Baltimore's poor, drawn from interviews and stories collected over the course of a decade. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.