Hard Living on Clay Street: Portraits of Blue Collar Families

by Joseph T. Howell

Description

Study of a white working class neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Two very different blue collar families, the Shackelfords and the Mosenys, live on Clay street. This is their story of survival from the 1970s to the 1990s

Recommendations

The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects by Lewis Mumford

The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects

Lewis Mumford

Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working-Class Family by Lillian B. Rubin

Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working-Class Family

Lillian B. Rubin

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do

Studs Terkel

Tally's Corner by Elliot Liebow

Tally's Corner

Elliot Liebow

The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz

The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays

Clifford Geertz

Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier

Sidewalk

Mitchell Duneier

Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare by Frances Fox Piven

Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare

Frances Fox Piven

Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

These Are Our Lives by Federal Writers Project

These Are Our Lives

Federal Writers Project

How the Other Half Lives by Jacob A. Riis

How the Other Half Lives

Jacob A. Riis

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio

Philippe Bourgois

Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict

Patterns of Culture

Ruth Benedict

Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood by Jay MacLeod

Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood

Jay MacLeod

The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare by Michael B. Katz

The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare

Michael B. Katz

The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo by Colin Turnbull

The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo

Colin Turnbull

The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler

The Working Poor: Invisible in America

David K. Shipler

Capitalism, the Family, and Personal Life by Eli Zaretsky

Capitalism, the Family, and Personal Life

Eli Zaretsky

The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America by Stephen Steinberg

The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America

Stephen Steinberg

Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail by Frances Fox Piven

Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail

Frances Fox Piven

Between Labor and Capital (South End Press Political Controversies Series) by Pat Walker

Between Labor and Capital (South End Press Political Controversies Series)

Pat Walker

All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community by Carol B. Stack

All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community

Carol B. Stack

The Other America: Poverty in the United States by Michael Harrington

The Other America: Poverty in the United States

Michael Harrington

Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum by William Foote Whyte

Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum

William Foote Whyte

The Hidden Injuries of Class by Jonathan Cobb

The Hidden Injuries of Class

Jonathan Cobb

Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

The Making of the English Working Class by E. P. Thompson

The Making of the English Working Class

E. P. Thompson

When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor by William Julius Wilson

When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor

William Julius Wilson

Doing Documentary Work by Robert Coles

Doing Documentary Work

Robert Coles

The Unheavenly City Revisited by Edward C. Banfield

The Unheavenly City Revisited

Edward C. Banfield

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life by Robert N. Bellah

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life

Robert N. Bellah

Detroit: Do I Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution by Dan Georgakas

Detroit: Do I Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution

Dan Georgakas

From Plantation to Ghetto by August Meier

From Plantation to Ghetto

August Meier

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Barbara Ehrenreich

The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy: A Compact and Irreverent Guide to Economic Life in America by Nancy Folbre

The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy: A Compact and Irreverent Guide to Economic Life in America

Nancy Folbre

How People Get Power: Revised Edition by Si Kahn

How People Get Power: Revised Edition

Si Kahn

Planet of Slums by Mike Davis

Planet of Slums

Mike Davis

Caste and Class in a Southern Town by John Dollard

Caste and Class in a Southern Town

John Dollard

The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition by Theodore Roszak

The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition

Theodore Roszak

The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills

The Sociological Imagination

C. Wright Mills

The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character by David Riesman

The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character

David Riesman

Steelworkers in America: The Non-Union Era by David Brody

Steelworkers in America: The Non-Union Era

David Brody

Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

Up from Slavery

Booker T. Washington

Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women by Elliot Liebow

Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women

Elliot Liebow

Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil by Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil

Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America by Cynthia M. Duncan

Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America

Cynthia M. Duncan

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets

Sudhir Venkatesh

The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels

The Condition of the Working Class in England

Friedrich Engels

American Violence: A Documentary History by Richard Hofstadter

American Violence: A Documentary History

Richard Hofstadter

Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City by Elijah Anderson

Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City

Elijah Anderson

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes by Robert M. Emerson

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes

Robert M. Emerson

Member Recommendations

When it Came Time (Salmon Poetry) by Jeri McCormick

bluepiano Most of McCormick's poems look back to the times before her family left Appalachia for a city; Howell's terrifically readable study tells of two families with deep roots in Appalachia long after migration to a city.

Complete Recommendations