Gimme Shelter A Social History of Homelessness in Contemporary America

Subjects:

• Sociology » Class Structure
• Crime & Justice » Crime & Justice (general)

Related Web Pages:

• http://www.greggbarak.com

Awards:

• Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 1991

Reviews:

• Barak's main argument is that the problem of homelessness in the US is linked to the emerging relations of global capitalism. Barak writes from the perspectives characteristic of critical criminology and victimology. Part I examines the problem of homelessness, its changing nature, the political economy of homelessness, housing policy, and the criminalization and victimization of the homeless. Part 2 critically evaluates government policies, the homeless movement, and the rights of the homeless, and suggests how to confront the problems of injustice and redistribution. Barak stresses the need for a new housing policy. He believes that the US policy-making apparatus is not truly democratic and just; policies for eliminating homelessness must address questions of power, justice, and democracy as they relate to social stratification in the US. Unlike M.H. Lang's Homelessness Amid Affluence (1989), this book goes beyond the insistence that homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem. It is well written and well worth reading. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
  —Choice
• ...an important contribution to this growing body of literature. It can be a useful book for the beginning student of homelessness and for those scholars and activists who have been studying and speaking out against this social injustice for some time. For the progressive social worker, Gregg Barak's analysis of the problem and proposed solutions will sit well--his bottom line is social justice and the elimination of societal violence. Gimme Shelter leaves the reader well informed about the social injustice of homelessness in contemporary America, our nation's response in this era of global capitalism, and how advocacy for visionary gradualism could bring us to a more just society.
  —
  Journal of Progressive Human Services

• Endorsement From
  Victoria Rader
  
  
  Department of Sociology
  
  
  George Mason University
  
  
  author of Signal Through the Flames: I am extremely impressed by Barak's bold but careful study of U.S. homelessness. It is time for us to place this new and growing domestic problem in its larger context. Barak accomplishes such an analysis artfully and with much compassion and clarity. The book helps us understand the root causes of homelessness and why it is not going to `go away.' Important reading for students of U.S. social issues and the concerned lay reader.
• Endorsement From Leon Anderson
  
  
  Assistant Professor, Sociology
  
  
  Ohio University
  : Gregg Barak's book is a highly readable and interesting account of homelessness in the 1980s in the United States. . . . In a world where scientific 'objective' accounts of the homeless and their pathologies prevail, Barak contributes a much-needed alternative voice. . . . [The book also contains an] informative and up-to-date treatment of current social policy and social action regarding homelessness, including an analysis of recent legislation, current services, nonprofit agency responses, ongoing legal battles, and the emerging 'homeless movement.' No other book that I am aware of has provided such a critical treatment of these important issues.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• The Problem of Homelessness
• Introduction
• The Changing Nature of Homelessness
• The Political Economy of the New Vagrancy
• The Crime of Homelessness versus the Crimes of the Homeless
• Confronting the Problem
• Responding to Short-Term Homeless Needs
• Resisting Homelessness
• The Rights of the Homeless
• Social Change and Homelessness: Past and Future
• Selected Bibliography
• Index