Michigan State and the City of East Lansing have selected “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by Matthew Desmond as the book for the 2019 One Book, One Community, or OBOC, program.
Desmond’s book was selected through an online survey shared with the East Lansing and MSU community. The OBOC program aims to bring MSU students and community members together in reading and exploring the themes of one common book.
“Evicted” follows real-life stories of eight families living in the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, told from Desmond’s personal point of view from living among these families in 2008 and 2009.
Desmond’s novel has won multiple awards including the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, among others.
Desmond is a professor of sociology and principal investigator at The Eviction Lab, both at Princeton University.
As part of the OBOC program, Desmond will speak to community members about his novel on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the East Lansing Hannah Community Center as well as on Monday, Aug. 26 at 9:00 a.m. in the Jack Breslin Student Events Center.
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