On the Fringe: The Dispossessed in America

by Henry Miller

Traces the history of homelessness throughout American history, looks at the reasons for it, and shows why it is a process rather than a status

Genres: Fiction

198 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1991

About the author

Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on his experiences in New York City and Paris (all of which were banned in the United States until 1961). He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. It was written in 1991 (I believe), so not terribly groundbreaking, but it does do a great job of giving a historical context to homelessness.

Take for instance the origins of the term “vagrant” in the aftermath of the Black Plague in medieval Europe. There was a severe population contraction and it dramatically tilted the labor market towards the workers. They were able to demand higher wages and would often travel around to find the best one. This is when the first “vagrancy” laws were established, in part to stop this migratory labor from leveraging the labor market. There were very few actually unemployed vagrants at this time.

As for contemporary study of homelessness, it’s not particularly ground breaking. Naturally, he argues the vast majority of homeless are so because of an incongruence between themselves and their skills and the skills required by the labor market. He then goes on to list the different attitudes and elements of the homeless, but doesn’t do much as far as proposing really granular solutions.

[Connor Denning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like this book was a good example of the quote "right thing to do" it showed curiosity throughout the entire book and when it started to get dull, the Author picked it up and made it interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in some type of the right and wrong kind of books. Throughout it i always felt like i was unable to put it down which madeit that much better.

Connor Denning

Mr. Ryans 1st hour