The Other America
Also known as The Other America: Poverty in the United States
Michael Harrington's 1962 exposé of hidden poverty in the affluent United States.
At a glance
Key ideas
Invisible poverty, The rejects of the affluent society, A moral case
See all 3Reception
Maurice Isserman, Cornel West
See all 2Connections
Michael Harrington and The Affluent Society
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Harrington shows that 40 to 50 million Americans lived in entrenched poverty in a country called "the affluent society".
- The poor had become socially invisible to everyone else.
- He describes the rural poor, the urban ghetto, Skid Row, the elderly and the mentally ill.
- Rather than argue for socialism, he makes a moral appeal that the facts should be read with outrage.
Why it matters
- It is credited with prompting Kennedy and Johnson's War on Poverty, and TIME named it one of the most influential nonfiction books of the century.
Key facts
- Author
- Michael Harrington1
- Published
- 19621
- Grew from
- His article "Our Fifty Million Poor", Commentary, July 19591
- Breakthrough
- Dwight Macdonald's review "Our Invisible Poor" in The New Yorker, January 1963, reportedly led Kennedy to read it1
- Sales
- Seventy thousand in its first year; over a million in paperback since1
- Recognition
- On TIME's 2011 list of the 100 best and most influential English nonfiction books since 19231
Key ideas
Reception
Connections
Links
Sources
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