Author:
Kusmer, Kenneth L., 1945-
Imprint:New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.
Descriptionix, 332 p. : ills. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:Kusmer's book is a compelling historical account of the most vulnerable segment of America's poor: those who "lack a fixed abode." The author convincingly demonstrates the symbolic relation between homelessness and a dynamic social order that has valued market and individual freedom over basic economic security for all. Also well-demonstrated are the shifting public perceptions and responses to the homeless, e.g., from fear and disdain expressed in antitramp laws to sentimentalization expressed in characters such as Charlie Chaplin's "little tramp," to a national attempt to address homelessness through the Federal Transient Service (1933-36), to the demolishing of skid rows for urban renewal. From the 18th century to the present, the homeless have been overwhelmingly male, white, and native-born, stereotypes notwithstanding. Kusmer (Temple Univ.) complements and even extends Paul Boyer's Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (CH, Feb'79). The author has done impressive research, particularly in his use of vagrancy records and other material that delineates the homeless, and he is fair and cogent in his interpretations. This lends force to the author's claim--and its public policy implications--that the homeless are "not so different from the rest of us. They never have been." -- Choice review
