28 Books like Maid

Class

by Stephanie Land • 2023

To afford college, she scrubbed toilets. The welfare office told her to drop out instead.

3.61

15k+

👩‍👧 Single Motherhood 💔 Domestic Abuse Survival 👩‍🎓 Poverty And Education

Class 95%

To afford college, she scrubbed toilets. The welfare office told her to drop out instead.

by Stephanie Land 2023

3.61

15k+ ratings

👩‍👧 Single Motherhood 💔 Domestic Abuse Survival 👩‍🎓 Poverty And Education

Where We Stand

by bell hooks • 2000

Feminism and antiracism won't succeed until they confront the thing they most ignore: class.

4.24

3k+

🤝 Intersectional Feminism 🏛️ Class Analysis ✊🏾 Black Feminism

Where We Stand 94%

Feminism and antiracism won't succeed until they confront the thing they most ignore: class.

by bell hooks 2000

4.24

3k+ ratings

🤝 Intersectional Feminism 🏛️ Class Analysis ✊🏾 Black Feminism

Poverty Safari

by Darren McGarvey • 2017

Poverty isn't just broke. It's trauma, addiction, and a mind that fights its own rescue.

4.01

7k+

🏚️ Urban Poverty 📊 Class Analysis 💊 Addiction And Recovery

Poverty Safari 94%

Poverty isn't just broke. It's trauma, addiction, and a mind that fights its own rescue.

by Darren McGarvey 2017

4.01

7k+ ratings

🏚️ Urban Poverty 📊 Class Analysis 💊 Addiction And Recovery

Evicted

by Matthew Desmond • 2016

Poverty isn't the cause of eviction. Eviction is the cause of poverty, and the market profits.

4.47

115k+

🏙️ Urban Poverty 🏚️ Housing Insecurity ✊ Racial Inequality

Evicted 93%

Poverty isn't the cause of eviction. Eviction is the cause of poverty, and the market profits.

by Matthew Desmond 2016

4.47

115k+ ratings

🏙️ Urban Poverty 🏚️ Housing Insecurity ✊ Racial Inequality

Gang Leader for a Day

by Sudhir Venkatesh • 2008

A sociologist ran a Chicago gang for a day. The books were cleaner than he expected.

4.07

26k+

🏙️ Urban Poverty 📝 Ethnographic Fieldwork 💰 Underground Economy

Gang Leader for a Day 93%

A sociologist ran a Chicago gang for a day. The books were cleaner than he expected.

by Sudhir Venkatesh 2008

4.07

26k+ ratings

🏙️ Urban Poverty 📝 Ethnographic Fieldwork 💰 Underground Economy

Invisible Child

by Andrea Elliott • 2021

Born homeless in Brooklyn, Dasani gets one shot: a boarding school that accepts one in ten.

4.70

20k+

🏙️ Urban Poverty 🛡️ Child Welfare 🔁 Intergenerational Poverty

Invisible Child 93%

Born homeless in Brooklyn, Dasani gets one shot: a boarding school that accepts one in ten.

by Andrea Elliott 2021

4.70

20k+ ratings

🏙️ Urban Poverty 🛡️ Child Welfare 🔁 Intergenerational Poverty

No Shame in My Game

by Katherine S. Newman • 1999

The job everyone ridicules might be the best shot at dignity for America's working poor.

3.75

466

🧐 Urban Ethnography 🧑‍🏭 Working Poor 🍔 Low-Wage Labor

No Shame in My Game 93%

The job everyone ridicules might be the best shot at dignity for America's working poor.

by Katherine S. Newman 1999

3.75

466 ratings

🧐 Urban Ethnography 🧑‍🏭 Working Poor 🍔 Low-Wage Labor

Paper Girl

by Beth Macy • 2025

A Pell Grant was her exit from working-class Ohio. Four decades later, the road is closed.

4.02

11k+

🏡 Rural America 👷 Working-Class Memoir 🏭 Post-Industrial Decline

Paper Girl 93%

A Pell Grant was her exit from working-class Ohio. Four decades later, the road is closed.

by Beth Macy 2025

4.02

11k+ ratings

🏡 Rural America 👷 Working-Class Memoir 🏭 Post-Industrial Decline

The Human Cost of Welfare

by Phil Harvey • 2016

Welfare was built to end poverty. Its rules punish work, marriage, and saving instead.

4.45

🏛️ Welfare Reform 📉 Anti-Poverty Policy 💼 Work Incentives

The Human Cost of Welfare 93%

Welfare was built to end poverty. Its rules punish work, marriage, and saving instead.

by Phil Harvey 2016

4.45

20 ratings

🏛️ Welfare Reform 📉 Anti-Poverty Policy 💼 Work Incentives

The Lost and the Found

by Kevin Fagan • 2025

A reporter followed two unhoused people in San Francisco. One got out. The other didn't. Here's why.

4.27

912

🏠 Chronic Homelessness 🏙️ Urban Poverty 💉 Addiction And Recovery

The Lost and the Found 93%

A reporter followed two unhoused people in San Francisco. One got out. The other didn't. Here's why.

by Kevin Fagan 2025

4.27

912 ratings

🏠 Chronic Homelessness 🏙️ Urban Poverty 💉 Addiction And Recovery

All You Can Eat

by Joel Berg • 2008

America has the food to feed everyone. Why 35 million still go hungry.

3.88

137

🍽️ Food Insecurity 📋 Welfare Policy 🔗 Systemic Poverty

All You Can Eat 92%

America has the food to feed everyone. Why 35 million still go hungry.

by Joel Berg 2008

3.88

137 ratings

🍽️ Food Insecurity 📋 Welfare Policy 🔗 Systemic Poverty

Ambitious Like a Mother

by Lara Bazelon • 2022

Mothers are told their ambition hurts their kids. The evidence shows it helps them.

3.58

164

👩‍💼 Working Motherhood 💪 Female Ambition 🍼 Intensive Mothering

Ambitious Like a Mother 92%

Mothers are told their ambition hurts their kids. The evidence shows it helps them.

by Lara Bazelon 2022

3.58

164 ratings

👩‍💼 Working Motherhood 💪 Female Ambition 🍼 Intensive Mothering

Essential Labor

by Angela Garbes • 2022

The invisible labor of mothering holds up the economy. It could also remake it.

3.79

3k+

🧹 Care Work 🤝 Intersectional Feminism ✊ Anti-Capitalist Feminism

Essential Labor 92%

The invisible labor of mothering holds up the economy. It could also remake it.

by Angela Garbes 2022

3.79

3k+ ratings

🧹 Care Work 🤝 Intersectional Feminism ✊ Anti-Capitalist Feminism

White Poverty

by William J. Barber II • 2024

America's poor are mostly white. The lie that says otherwise keeps the working class fractured.

4.28

719

🏚️ Systemic Poverty 🔗 Racial Division 💭 Poverty Myths

White Poverty 92%

America's poor are mostly white. The lie that says otherwise keeps the working class fractured.

by William J. Barber II 2024

4.28

719 ratings

🏚️ Systemic Poverty 🔗 Racial Division 💭 Poverty Myths

The Wife Drought

by Annabel Crabb • 2014

We've spent decades getting women into the workplace. The harder project is getting men out.

4.15

4k+

🏠 Domestic Labor Inequality 🍞 Breadwinner Homemaker Divide 👻 Invisible Labor

The Wife Drought 92%

We've spent decades getting women into the workplace. The harder project is getting men out.

by Annabel Crabb 2014

4.15

4k+ ratings

🏠 Domestic Labor Inequality 🍞 Breadwinner Homemaker Divide 👻 Invisible Labor

Poverty, by America

by Matthew Desmond • 2023

Poverty in America persists by design, fueled by exploitation and welfare that flows to the top.

4.27

64k+

🏚️ Housing Exploitation 🛠️ Labor Exploitation 💰 Affluent Welfare

Poverty, by America 92%

Poverty in America persists by design, fueled by exploitation and welfare that flows to the top.

by Matthew Desmond 2023

4.27

64k+ ratings

🏚️ Housing Exploitation 🛠️ Labor Exploitation 💰 Affluent Welfare

Hillbilly Elegy

by J.D. Vance • 2016

Escaping Appalachia wasn't about money; it was about cracking a hidden code.

3.83

508k+

🏔️ Appalachian Culture 👷 White Working Class 🧬 Generational Trauma

Hillbilly Elegy 92%

Escaping Appalachia wasn't about money; it was about cracking a hidden code.

by J.D. Vance 2016

3.83

508k+ ratings

🏔️ Appalachian Culture 👷 White Working Class 🧬 Generational Trauma

Never Stop Walking

by Christina Rickardsson • 2016

Adoption carried her from Brazilian caves to Sweden at eight. Learning the cost took decades.

3.98

10k+

🧳 Transnational Adoption 🏚️ Street Survival 💔 Childhood Trauma

Never Stop Walking 92%

Adoption carried her from Brazilian caves to Sweden at eight. Learning the cost took decades.

by Christina Rickardsson 2016

3.98

10k+ ratings

🧳 Transnational Adoption 🏚️ Street Survival 💔 Childhood Trauma

The Glass Castle

by Jeannette Walls • 2005

She was three when her dress burst into flames. Her parents called it an adventure.

4.33

1.4M+

🏚️ Family Dysfunction 🍺 Alcoholic Parent 🚪 Escaping Poverty

The Glass Castle 92%

She was three when her dress burst into flames. Her parents called it an adventure.

by Jeannette Walls 2005

4.33

1.4M+ ratings

🏚️ Family Dysfunction 🍺 Alcoholic Parent 🚪 Escaping Poverty

The New Feminist Agenda

by Madeleine Kunin • 2012

Most rich nations mandate paid family leave. The US does not. A former governor on why.

3.76

119

🏛️ Work-Family Policy 🇩🇰 Nordic Social Model 🧒 Child Poverty

The New Feminist Agenda 92%

Most rich nations mandate paid family leave. The US does not. A former governor on why.

by Madeleine Kunin 2012

3.76

119 ratings

🏛️ Work-Family Policy 🇩🇰 Nordic Social Model 🧒 Child Poverty

Screaming on the Inside

by Jessica Grose • 2022

Centuries of impossible ideals set the trap. The pandemic sprang it, and the exit is ambivalence.

3.47

5k+

🧩 Modern Motherhood 😶 Maternal Ambivalence 📱 Momfluencer Culture

Screaming on the Inside 92%

Centuries of impossible ideals set the trap. The pandemic sprang it, and the exit is ambivalence.

by Jessica Grose 2022

3.47

5k+ ratings

🧩 Modern Motherhood 😶 Maternal Ambivalence 📱 Momfluencer Culture

I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

by Madeline Pendleton • 2024

The financial rules that work when you are broke look nothing like the ones in the bestsellers.

4.52

4k+

💰 Financial Memoir 📱 Millennial Money 🏚️ Economic Precarity

I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt Summary

I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt 92%

The financial rules that work when you are broke look nothing like the ones in the bestsellers.

by Madeline Pendleton 2024

4.52

4k+ ratings

💰 Financial Memoir 📱 Millennial Money 🏚️ Economic Precarity

Not Working

by D.W. Gibson • 2012

What a paycheck conceals: Americans on the identity, health, and dignity that left with the job.

3.68

🎙️ Oral History 💸 Economic Precarity 🔨 Work And Identity

Not Working 92%

What a paycheck conceals: Americans on the identity, health, and dignity that left with the job.

by D.W. Gibson 2012

3.68

60 ratings

🎙️ Oral History 💸 Economic Precarity 🔨 Work And Identity

Ain't No Makin' It

by Jay MacLeod • 2008

One group believed hard work would save them; the other didn't. Class position decided their fates.

4.07

1k+

🏙️ Urban Poverty 📝 Ethnographic Sociology ⚖️ Class Inequality

Ain't No Makin' It 92%

One group believed hard work would save them; the other didn't. Class position decided their fates.

by Jay MacLeod 2008

4.07

1k+ ratings

🏙️ Urban Poverty 📝 Ethnographic Sociology ⚖️ Class Inequality

The Moment of Lift

by Melinda French Gates • 2019

Empowering women does more to end poverty and disease than any technology.

4.27

65k+

🌍 Global Development 📈 Feminist Economics 👶 Family Planning

The Moment of Lift 91%

Empowering women does more to end poverty and disease than any technology.

by Melinda French Gates 2019

4.27

65k+ ratings

🌍 Global Development 📈 Feminist Economics 👶 Family Planning

Life at the Bottom

by Theodore Dalrymple • 2001

Poverty didn't wreck the underclass. A set of ideas did—and intellectuals handed them down.

4.23

4k+

🏙️ Urban Poverty 🏛️ Welfare State Critique 🎭 Victimhood Culture

Life at the Bottom 91%

Poverty didn't wreck the underclass. A set of ideas did—and intellectuals handed them down.

by Theodore Dalrymple 2001

4.23

4k+ ratings

🏙️ Urban Poverty 🏛️ Welfare State Critique 🎭 Victimhood Culture

Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised

by Carmelo Anthony • 2021

Grief unnamed, a mother's open door, a blacktop sanctuary: surviving the projects before the NBA.

4.07

2k+

🏀 Basketball Memoirs 🏢 Housing Projects ⚖️ Systemic Racism

Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised 91%

Grief unnamed, a mother's open door, a blacktop sanctuary: surviving the projects before the NBA.

by Carmelo Anthony 2021

4.07

2k+ ratings

🏀 Basketball Memoirs 🏢 Housing Projects ⚖️ Systemic Racism

The Wives

by Simone Gorrindo • 2024

She joined a hidden world of rules, waiting, and rivalries: the sisterhood of Army wives.

3.77

9k+

🏠 Military Spouses 💪 Invisible Labor 👭 Female Friendship

The Wives 91%

She joined a hidden world of rules, waiting, and rivalries: the sisterhood of Army wives.

by Simone Gorrindo 2024

3.77

9k+ ratings

🏠 Military Spouses 💪 Invisible Labor 👭 Female Friendship

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