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A review by greeniezona
Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America by Tim Wise
4.0
Despite having rather sternly told myself I was not allowed to check out any books because I already had too many checked out at home, I saw this one in the new non-fiction section and could not resist. Reading it swayed me more to Bernie than any articles actually about the candidates did. The system of inequality is just too unjust for tinkering to fix. It needs a sledgehammer.
Reading this book was highly emotional for me. In many sections, especially early on in the book, the ideas Wise was selling I was already convinced of, but the details and examples were so maddening that I had to skim over them to avoid flying into a rage. At the same time, there were so many stories, studies, argument that we so strongly worded that I had to quote them on goodreads, on Facebook, read them to my family. One section in particular pushed me over the edge, and I had to put the book down so that I could go buy my own personal copy that I could mark up and underline for future debates, so that I could safely return my library copy.
If yu want to learn about systematic inequality, read this book. If you want to know how our (white) racism has damned us, causing us to shred our own safety nets just to erode the (rather more wobbly) nets for people of color, read this book NOW.
Reading this book was highly emotional for me. In many sections, especially early on in the book, the ideas Wise was selling I was already convinced of, but the details and examples were so maddening that I had to skim over them to avoid flying into a rage. At the same time, there were so many stories, studies, argument that we so strongly worded that I had to quote them on goodreads, on Facebook, read them to my family. One section in particular pushed me over the edge, and I had to put the book down so that I could go buy my own personal copy that I could mark up and underline for future debates, so that I could safely return my library copy.
If yu want to learn about systematic inequality, read this book. If you want to know how our (white) racism has damned us, causing us to shred our own safety nets just to erode the (rather more wobbly) nets for people of color, read this book NOW.