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Review by Alden Mudge
There's much to argue with in "New American Blues," Earl Shorris' very provocative examination of poverty in America. But why expend energy debating the whole vexing issue of poverty in this blessed land? Why not simply chuck the book out the window and leave the whole mess to the dubious ministrations of politicians, pundits and poverty professionals?
Perhaps because "New American Blues" is a clear-eyed and, in the end, quite hopeful book that offers something new on the topic. Perhaps because Shorris' journey into the rarely visited places where poor people actually live provides, here and there, extraordinary glimpses into the workings of poverty and democracy. And these glimpses call into question our past political and bureaucratic efforts to change the lives of the poor.
But Shorris' tour is no sentimental journey. Although he is sympathetic to the people he meets, helps them when he can, listens seriously to what they have to say, and affords them an essential human dignity, Shorris is not blind to the chaos and the sometimes-self-inflicted complications of their lives.
Instead, this mixture of anecdote, assertion and analysis combines to make some startling points. Most surprising is Shorris' main idea: that lack of politics is a major obstacle that often prevents poor people from getting out of poverty. By "politics" Shorris does not mean party and faction. He refers, instead, to something larger, something akin to "public life," and to the reflection and negotiation necessary to live publicly in mainstream society. Chief among the reasons for this lack of politics, Shorris says, is that the poor live in a "surround of force," a combination of events and limitations that keep their lives in chaos, and restrict their ability to reflect and reason, and thereby, achieve responsible, self-determined lives.
As an antidote to the surround of force, Shorris suggests teaching the poor the humanities -- history, logic, art and so on. "The study of the humanities by large numbers of people, especially the poor, is in itself a redistribution of wealth," he writes. Then he backs up this outlandish proposal with evidence from an experiment he conducted among the poor in New York.
The chapter on the "Clemente Experiment" alone makes the book worth reading. And the ideas that led Shorris to that experiment clearly merit serious debate. To date, however, Shorris' book has elicited either a stony silence or a sort of dismissive condemnation from the people supposedly most concerned about the poor. Why should we be surprised? "New American Blues" is not a call to the guilt and do-goodism on which the current system thrives. Rather it seeks to tap the idealism that occasionally energizes the body politic, creates dramatic change and sometimes even sets people free.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.