The Working Poor: Invisible in America

Author: David K. Shipler
Publisher: 2004, Vintage Books
Lexile Measure: n/a
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
In this nonfiction work by Pulitzer prize-winning author David Shipler, Shipler discusses the problem of poverty in the United States.  He does so by following the lives of numerous working poor Americans for several years.  He then presents their stories to illustrate the complexity of the problem of poverty and examines the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of our society’s attempts to address                        it.

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Language:
This is a nonfiction work.  Profanity is present only when in a quote by one of the subjects.  The author uses none of his own.  Examples of language used are:

• h*ll (pp. 35, 104, 105, 106)
  
• cr*p (p. 208)
  
• God (p. 49)
  
• sh*t (pp. 90, 103, 106, 113, 234)
  
• p*ssing (pp. 103, 183)
  
• *ss (p. 149)
  
• d*mn (p. 175)
  
• b*tch (p. 234)
  

Drug and Alcohol Use:

• References to drinking, smoking, and drug use are really too numerous to mention.  As an example, however, pp. 33-38, discuss a young couple with children who smoke and drink while their neglected children play in an unsafe and unclean environment.  See also, pp. 43-44, 55, 122, 175.
  
• The book references use of marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drug use on pp. 46, 113, 119, 122, 152-153, 156-157, 267-269. 271-274. Drugs are discussed not to glorify them or their use or sale but, instead, to demonstrate the negative impact they have on the people using them, their families and friends, and their neighborhoods. 
  
• Again, drug and alcohol use and abuse is discussed repeatedly.
  

Violence and Crime:

• The Working Poor discusses crimes committed by the subjects of Shipler’s interviews and others in their environments.  These include drug use, theft, domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse of minors, drunk driving, and prostitution. Crime is not glorified; instead it is examined as one of the causes and effects of poverty.
  
• The book discusses illegal immigrants and the businesses that employ them in a chapter entitled “Harvest of Shame.”
  
• In the chapter entitled “Sins of the Fathers,” the book discusses sexual abuse of children (including one instance of anal sex), abortion, and domestic violence.  It also discusses rape of a prostitute by her pimp and the assault of a teenager who was tied to a bed and raped while people laughed (see, pp. 270-271).
  

Sexual Content:

• Sexual conduct is referenced throughout The Working Poor.  Examples are too numerous to detail.
  
• The book discusses the sexual abuse of a child by her father (pp. 58-59).
  
• Prostitution and drug abuse are discussed throughout.
  
• Many of Shipler’s case studies involve women who have children out of wedlock, often with multiple men.  Ex. p. 123.  See also, Chapter 6, “Sins of the Fathers.” 
  
• Chapter 6, entitled “Sins of the Fathers,” contains a lot of graphic, but not gratuitous, sexual content.  It discusses the large number of women in poverty who have been sexually abused and the impact of the abuse on their lives, including promiscuity and abortion.
• Descriptions of abuse include fondling of minors, rape, anal sex (with a second grader), a matter-of-fact description of an aborted fetus in a jar, the rape of a prostitute by her pimp, women who have had multiple children out of wedlock with numerous men as the fathers, and child abuse and neglect. 
  

Other:

• The Working Poor presents the author’s analysis of capitalism’s pros and cons and notes that the system does not work equally for everyone and that, perhaps, all people are not presented with a level playing field.
• Shipler argues that the United States has the resources, but not the political will, to address the problems of poverty.  For a summary of his opinions, readers should turn to Chapter 11, “Skill and Will.”  There, Shipler points out that poverty is not a simple problem to solve and that both political parties have misguided beliefs about how to solve it.
  

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Other Helpful Reviews:

• New York Times
  
• Good Reads
  
• Book Pages