Left Out in America: The State of Homelessness in the United States

by Pat LaMarche

"Left Out in America" is a powerful look at what it means to be homeless in the United States. In her first, highly anticipated book, accomplished broadcaster and journalist, Pat LaMarche has... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1929565208
• ISBN13: 9781929565207
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: upalaPress
• Length: 149 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

She nailed it!

Pat LaMarche's account of her quest to sample life of the "left out" homeless population was refreshingly realistic. As a former shelter director, I would have recognized attempts to distort or misrepresent. She didn't, and she also included some personal reflections to balance her descriptions. With millions of adults, teens and children on the streets, it's time we get an idea of what people encounter when they hit the streets. My book, Crossing the Line: Taking Steps to End Homelessness, offers a behind the scenes look at a shelter. Pat approaches it from the other direction. Her belief that candidates for office need to understand homelessness should be contagious. Our country would be better for it. But, in lieu of what seems impossible, at least read her book. It's a good look at a lifestyle that is becoming more "popular" as our economy disintegrates. Too bad she wasn't elected!

Walking the Walk

I can only say that this book should be on the New York Times Bestseller list. In plain but articulate speech, the author takes us into the underworld of the working poor and dispossessed. It inspires me with anger toward those who want the system to stay at the status quo. As William Blake, the prophetic English poet wrote, (and I paraphrase) "You can't make someone rich without making someone poor." This is a nation that on the surface tortures people for no apparent reason. But the reason is simple: They must instill in every citizen a nameless fear (such as "terrorism") to keep the hammer of power. Ms. LaMarche's book is an indictment, and we must pay attention to that before all of our freedoms disappear into the dark abyss of a nightmarish existence in the land of the "free."

This book will open your eyes...

...and make you weep...and make you wonder. The United States of America is the most powerful nation in the world. Yet we are unable to resolve the growing problem of homelessness in our own land. Pat LaMarche tells the stories of many homeless Americans during her 14-day journey through homeless shelters around the country. The stories of these unfortunate souls are different yet there are themes that seem to appear throughout the miles. Many of these people have jobs but still cannot afford rent. Some are running from abuse. All of them are trying to make the best they can of a desperate situation. I was angered by the fact that children had to walk to their old bus stops to create the illusion that nothing was wrong, lest they be teased and/or beaten by the other students. All of these folks try to maintain a sense of normalcy in a completely abnormal situation. I applaud Pat for undertaking this sojourn. For unlike most people running for office, she did it to call attention to the homeless situation in America as opposed to drawing attention to herself or her party. I do not believe that Pat wants to be vice president, or governor, or senator. No, I believe that she wants to serve the public at the highest level at which she can affect change. Whether it be as an elected official, an author, a speaker or a server on a foodline at the local homeless shelter. This book is a public service. It serves to open the eyes of the fortunate to the plight of the less than fortunate. Let's hope it moves them to action...from the shelters in the streets all the way up to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Terrific insight

This is much more than a book about homelssness- it is a book about our fellow Americans who are struggling to live with dignity, or perhaps just to live at all. You will learn a lot about conditions in the shelters and how many of the characters have jobs but don't make enough money to make the rent. But the main value of the book emerges in the stories of the people who will teach you things about life that you might never have known. Full disclosure: I am a Green Party activist who has known and supported Pat LaMarche when she was the GP candidate for Vice President and Governor. There are political policies I will disagree with Pat about, but I will always admire and support those like her who give so much of their own hearts for people and the social movements that will make our world a much better place.

You Will Never Forget This Book

How many times have you seen a homeless person sleeping on a park bench or shivering in the cold on a windy night and asked yourself why they just don't go to the local homeless shelter? The answer to that question and many more is found in this concise and powerful book, "Left Out in America: The State of Homelessness in the United States" by broadcaster and journalist Pat LaMarche. The vignettes found in these 37 short chapters are so arresting that you will read it in one sitting. And then read it again. The pictures of life on the edge that LaMarche paints with her words will stay in your mind forever - and compel you to act. LaMarche combines the first person reporting skills of a Barbara Ehrenreich with the power of our best short story writers. After years of researching, writing, and volunteering in homeless shelters as an outgrowth of her concern for children and the poor, she decided to go on a 14-day trip to 14 homeless shelters across America. With the precision of a haiku, each shelter and its residents is brought to life. Without undue sentimentality or harsh moralism, she relates the stories of domestic violence, health crises, and unfortunate decisions that have brought so many of our neighbors to the brink. You will never forget the 4-year-old who drew life-like pictures of her mommy, baby sister and herself, and then, in a child's recognition of the futility of her existence in a shelter, crossed out the faces of each person. Or the elderly woman who lashed out at anyone who tried to help her make her bed, her teeth bared at those trying to help but not understanding how her dignity and self-image were represented by the folded sheets on her rickety cot. LaMarche ends her book with a reminder from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" that is well worth repeating, especially now that so many of us are maxed out on our credit cards and one medical catastrophe away from being on the streets ourselves. When Scrooge sees the Ghost of Christmas Present with two hideous children, Want and Ignorance, hiding under his robes, he asks, "Spirit, are they your children?" "'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.'" Thanks Pat LaMarche, for ending our ignorance about this important issue.