It's hard not to compare this to Evicted, as that was an astounding work of non-fiction and Poverty is pretty much a spiritual successor. However, where Evicted found strength in creating a narrative of real people alongside the societal breakdown and discussion, Poverty is entirely the societal breakdown and discussion. That's not to say that Poverty is a lesser book - it just didn't have the same emotional impact that Evicted had for me. 

If you're like me and already acutely aware of the vast systemic issues that have created and keep creating poverty in America, not a lot here will be new information. If you are or were in poverty (like me) then none of this is new. But Desmond's strength as a writer is in collecting all the data and presenting it in such a way that is easy to comprehend, and hopefully galvanizes the reader to take action in any way.

The audiobook is great; Dion Graham is expressive and really gets Desmond's frustration and anger across very well, without going overboard. The only time he fully goes for it is the last section of the Epilogue that is basically a call to arms, and it was fantastic. 

Honestly, this book did its job in making me feel like I can do something small in my small life to try to be a poverty abolitionist and not just stand by and think that the problem is too big to even care about.