Address Unknown: The Homeless in America (Social Institutions and Social Change Series)

This volume is so humanely sensitive, so skillfully researched, and so eminently readable that it should be required reading for anyone interested in issues of poverty, social inequity, and, on a more analytical level, the latent functions of well-intentioned social initiatives... Address Unknown is an important work. It provides a learned summary of the social forces that have precipitated and accompanies homelessness in the United States and offers a clear view of the conditions that militate against eliminating the problem.

--Leona L. Bachrach, Contemporary Sociology

In total, this book provides an excellent overview to the many issues involved in homelessness. It is easy to read, can be understood by any individual with some college background, and is very well organized. Perhaps it is best used by anyone concerned with the family to recognize that the phenomenon of homelessness is a reality for many American families and not just the fictionalized wino in the gutter.

--Elaine I. Bruck, Family Relations

[H]ighly readable, interesting, and should be on any core reading list for those interested in an overview of the problem.

--Richard P. Appelbaum, American Journal of Sociology

The plight of homeless people is of interest to the social work profession as this serious social problem continues to grow, casting its pernicious effects on cities and towns in urban, suburban, and rural America... Address Unknown is an excellent introductory text for social work students or practitioners. The book captures the human face of homelessness and thoroughly explores policy and service-delivery strategies to reduce the number of homeless families and individuals in America.

--Frederick L. Ahearn, Jr., Social Work Research & Abstracts

According to the 1990 report of the U.S. Conference of Mayors... public sentiment toward the homeless has hardened in over half of the nation's cities. But take even a short walk in the shoes of the homeless--men and women, black, white, and brown, young and old, drunk and sober, mentally healthy and mentally ill, families and loners, poor, poorer, and poorest--as James Wright invites us to do in Address Unknown, and you will see just how inadequate the new hard-heartedness is. Civic toughness, whether in the form of boot-camp prisons, tightly run shelters, no-nonsense drug therapies, or work-based welfare programs, has its limits, especially when the social problems at which it's aimed have deep economic roots.

--John J. DiIulio Jr., The New Republic

This volume is so humanely sensitive, so skillfully researched, and so eminently readable that it should be required reading for anyone interested in issues of poverty, social inequity, and, on a more analytical level, the latent functions of well-intentioned social initiatives... Address Unknown is an important work. It provides a learned summary of the social forces that have precipitated and accompanies homelessness in the United States and offers a clear view of the conditions that militate against eliminating the problem.

--Leona L. Bachrach, Contemporary Sociology

In total, this book provides an excellent overview to the many issues involved in homelessness. It is easy to read, can be understood by any individual with some college background, and is very well organized. Perhaps it is best used by anyone concerned with the family to recognize that the phenomenon of homelessness is a reality for many American families and not just the fictionalized wino in the gutter.

--Elaine I. Bruck, Family Relations

[H]ighly readable, interesting, and should be on any core reading list for those interested in an overview of the problem.

--Richard P. Appelbaum, American Journal of Sociology

The plight of homeless people is of interest to the social work profession as this serious social problem continues to grow, casting its pernicious effects on cities and towns in urban, suburban, and rural America... Address Unknown is an excellent introductory text for social work students or practitioners. The book captures the human face of homelessness and thoroughly explores policy and service-delivery strategies to reduce the number of homeless families and individuals in America.

--Frederick L. Ahearn, Jr., Social Work Research & Abstracts

According to the 1990 report of the U.S. Conference of Mayors... public sentiment toward the homeless has hardened in over half of the nation's cities. But take even a short walk in the shoes of the homeless--men and women, black, white, and brown, young and old, drunk and sober, mentally healthy and mentally ill, families and loners, poor, poorer, and poorest--as James Wright invites us to do in Address Unknown, and you will see just how inadequate the new hard-heartedness is. Civic toughness, whether in the form of boot-camp prisons, tightly run shelters, no-nonsense drug therapies, or work-based welfare programs, has its limits, especially when the social problems at which it's aimed have deep economic roots.

--John J. DiIulio Jr., The New Republic

-This volume is so humanely sensitive, so skillfully researched, and so eminently readable that it should be required reading for anyone interested in issues of poverty, social inequity, and, on a more analytical level, the latent functions of well-intentioned social initiatives... Address Unknown is an important work. It provides a learned summary of the social forces that have precipitated and accompanies homelessness in the United States and offers a clear view of the conditions that militate against eliminating the problem.-

--Leona L. Bachrach, Contemporary Sociology

-In total, this book provides an excellent overview to the many issues involved in homelessness. It is easy to read, can be understood by any individual with some college background, and is very well organized. Perhaps it is best used by anyone concerned with the family to recognize that the phenomenon of homelessness is a reality for many American families and not just the fictionalized -wino in the gutter.--

--Elaine I. Bruck, Family Relations

-[H]ighly readable, interesting, and should be on any core reading list for those interested in an overview of the problem.-

--Richard P. Appelbaum, American Journal of Sociology

-The plight of homeless people is of interest to the social work profession as this serious social problem continues to grow, casting its pernicious effects on cities and towns in urban, suburban, and rural America... Address Unknown is an excellent introductory text for social work students or practitioners. The book captures the human face of homelessness and thoroughly explores policy and service-delivery strategies to reduce the number of homeless families and individuals in America.-

--Frederick L. Ahearn, Jr., Social Work Research & Abstracts

-According to the 1990 report of the U.S. Conference of Mayors... public sentiment toward the homeless has hardened in over half of the nation's cities. But take even a short walk in the shoes of the homeless--men and women, black, white, and brown, young and old, drunk and sober, mentally healthy and mentally ill, families and loners, poor, poorer, and poorest--as James Wright invites us to do in Address Unknown, and you will see just how inadequate the new hard-heartedness is. Civic toughness, whether in the form of boot-camp prisons, tightly run shelters, no-nonsense drug therapies, or work-based welfare programs, has its limits, especially when the social problems at which it's aimed have deep economic roots.-

--John J. DiIulio Jr., The New Republic