Poverty is often material scarcity piled on chronic pain piled on incarceration piled on depression piled on addiction--on and on it goes.
-- Author Matthew Desmond (chapter 1)

Importance: Here, Desmond emphasizes that poverty is entangled in numerous social problems. There are no easy answers to a problem this multifaceted.

Today, the wealth gap between Black and white families is as large as it was in the 1960s. Our legacy of systematically denying Black people access to the nation's land and riches has been passed from generation to generation.
-- Author Matthew Desmond (chapter 1)

Importance: Desmond does not allow his readers to slip into complacency. He provides data that proves the existence of systemic racism.

Over the course of American history, immigrants have served as a scapegoat for our economic anxieties.
-- Author Matthew Desmond (chapter 2)

Importance: In Chapter 2, Desmond provides a history lesson and recalls that the Chinese, Italians, and so many other immigrant groups have been blamed for taking American jobs. The truth is that immigrants stimulate...