96. How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick: Restoring Health and Wellness to Our Communities by Veronica Squires and Breanna Lathrop
The authors talk about living in a poor neighborhood in Atlanta and how it negatively impacts the residents there and makes it hard if not impossible for them to better their situation. They also talk about the organizations specifically the health clinic one of the authors works for that are trying to help the people who live there.
Co-written by a upper middle class white woman who moves with her husband into the inner city of Atlanta as part of mission I feel like this book is one that might actually reach the white Christian suburbanites who don’t understand why “these people” don’t just pull themselves up by the boot straps and who think if you’re poor it’s obviously your fault and has nothing to do with systemic issues. Having someone who is like them share her personal experiences of living under the conditions that most poor inner city people live in and sharing about how it affected her life and her health might actually speak to some of them. Here’s hoping because most of the books I read on topics like this make me think that no one who doesn’t already agree with this is going to pick this up and actually believe what it says. This one I think has a chance of reaching some people who might not already recognize the systemic issues that keep poor people down in our country. I give it a 6 out of 10.
Around the Year in 100 Books 