Beside the Golden Door: Policy, Politics, and the Homeless » (1st Edition)

Beside the Golden Door relates the story of homelessness through the middle 1990s, advancing the thesis that an emphasis on factors such as mental illness or substance abuse is descriptively accurate but fails as a causal account of the rise of homelessness as a social problem. “Both the content and style of this book make an excellent instructive read for students, practitioners, and scholars, alike.”—Social Forces

Booknews

Three Tulane University sociologists fly into the eye of the controversies raging over homelessness: theories, demographics (including "yuffies," young urban failures) health status, presence beyond American cities, and future trends. In contrast to those who argue that the personal disabilities of this population keep them on the streets, this volume is based on work by Wright and his colleagues since his 1989 Address Unknown: The Homeless in America locating the phenomenon's roots in rising poverty and declining low-income housing. The title refers to the Statue of Liberty's invitation to "... the homeless, tempest-tost... I lift my lamp beside the golden door." Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.