Peter Edelman discusses "So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America"

“Could everyone please read this book?"--Barbara Ehrenreich



If
the nation's gross national income--over $14 trillion--were divided
evenly across the entire U.S. population, every household could call
itself middle class. Yet the income-level disparity in this country is
now wider than at any point since the Great Depression. In 2010 the
average salary for CEOs on the S&P 500 was over $1 million--climbing
to over $11 million when all forms of compensation are accounted
for--while the current median household income for African Americans is
just over $32,000. How can some be so rich, while others are so poor?



In
his provocative book, Peter Edelman, a former top aide to Senator
Robert F. Kennedy and a lifelong antipoverty advocate, offers an
informed analysis of how this country can be so wealthy yet have a
steadily growing number of unemployed and working poor. So Rich, So Poor
delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics and
takes a particular look at the continuing crisis of young people of
color, whose possibility of a productive life too often is lost on their
way to adulthood. This is crucial reading for anyone who wants to
understand the most critical American dilemma of the twenty-first
century.



"Peter
Edelman brings blinding lucidity to a subject usually mired in
prejudice and false preconceptions. Before we have one more discussion
of how America can combat its persistent and growing levels of poverty,
could everyone please read this book?"--Barbara Ehrenreich





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Peter
Edelman, a former aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and member of the
Clinton administration, is a professor of law at the Georgetown
University Law Center. He has written articles and op-ed pieces for a
wide range of periodicals, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly, and Dissent. He is married to Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund and a best-selling author.