Books For The SW And Beyond

Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest To Change Harlem and America
by Paul Tough
Details process from conception to a few years after the doors open of a wrap around service which includes an elementary and middle school for children in Harlem. Book doesn’t shy away from the mistakes and very difficult decisions that Geoffrey Canada had to make to ensure the long term funding of the school.

A Useful Woman: The Early Life of Jane Adams
by Gioia Diliberto
Easy to read book about Jane’s family. Explores how and why Jane became Jane Addams, especially how she opened the doors to Hull House to improve the well being not only of the poverty stricken in the area but for young educated women who had the ambition to “enter the working world” but were discouraged to do so from their families and society.

Jane Addams: Twenty Years at Hull-House
by Jane Addmas
A detailed book about Jane Addam’s philosophy surrounding poverty, education, and labor laws. Fascinating in that many of her rationale could still be applied today in these aspects of American life. The only tricky aspect of the book is that Jane’s writing is of her time and can be difficult to follow at times.

Letters to a Young Therapist
by Mary Pipher
Ms. Piper offers guidance, practical advice and lessons for the new therapist. The book is a series of letters that the author is writing to one of her students she supervises. This format is hokey and a little cheesey at times but the lessons are anything but. Quick read.

When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor
By William Julius Wilson
This book describes the circumstances that make living in the urban ghetto a dibilitating circumstance where work is wanted, but almost impossible to come by. The book looks into the sociocultural values that hinder persons living in poor urban enviroments as well as insititutional racism that create barriers for the urban poor. This book does not make excuses but through research highlights the silent barriers that play a part in the development of consistent urban poverty.

Lipstick Jihad
By Azadeh Moeveni
A witty book that takes the reader inside Iran from the perspective of an Iranian American female journalist. The books balances humor with the sad and frustrating circumstances for persons living in Iran. The author depicts the Iranian people as frusterated and angry with their government for the lack of civil and religious freedoms afforded to Iranians. The author describes a brave culture of people yearning to break free of the oppressive, sexist, religiously intolerant government.