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257 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 2, 2011
we are essentially struggling to relearn the lessons of the 1930s. we are also reliving a version of its political and economic battles, as well as fighting new ones.from youngstown, ohio to post-katrina new orleans to both coasts and points in between, the nation's financial predicament has strayed from the mere realm of economics to shape and inform other current debates, including race and immigration (with all its requisite scapegoating). the combination of maharidge's prose and williamson's photographs portray this stark era in american history with both compassion and incisiveness. the personal tales recounted in someplace like america are troubling and often heartbreaking, yet not without a hopeful outlook. maharidge and williamson's book is often an emotional one, but the courageousness and perseverance evinced by their subjects is inspiring and redemptive. someplace like america is a work so important, so revealing, that it ought to be read by all americans, to say nothing of our culpable and adversarial elected officials.
what i want to tell all of them is this: we don't have to be a tarp nation. we overcame that kind of desperation and lack of caring for our fellow citizens in the 1930s. we can do it again. no little girl in this country should have to grow up with the memory of huddling homeless and terrified in a tent as a tornado blows in. we will at long last relearn what is truly too big to fail- the lives and hopes of working men and women.