Seeing The Other America

by Leigh Graham · 2009-06-28 13:08:00 UTC
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I confess, I've never read Michael Harrington's seminal work, The Other America.  Rather, I've read of its influence among conservative and liberal policy circles - how it shaped our varying recognition of and approach to poverty in this country.

There's a shortish, interesting reflection on the book in a recent NYT, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Harrington's initial publication "Our Fifty Million Poor"

"in which he sought to overturn the conventional wisdom that the United States had become an overwhelmingly middle-class society...he demonstrated that nearly a third of the population lived “below those standards which we have been taught to regard as the decent minimums for food, housing, clothing and health.”

I don't have much to add to this thorough review, so I'm just going to leave you with this:

...what remains fresh and vital in “The Other America” is its moral clarity. Harrington argued that Americans should be angry and ashamed to live in a rich society in which so many remained poor. “The fate of the poor,” he concluded, “hangs upon the decision of the better-off. If this anger and shame are not forthcoming, someone can write a book about the other America a generation from now and it will be the same or worse.”

What can I say?  It's Sunday - once again I'm preaching to the choir this afternoon!

If you've read Harrington's work, leave your thoughts in comments.

Leigh Graham
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