On my "What I've Been Reading Lately" list is the book The Working Poor, by David Shipler. From the description of the book on Amazon.com:

The Working Poor examines the "forgotten America" where "millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being." These are citizens for whom the American Dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Struggling to simply survive, they live so close to the edge of poverty that a minor obstacle, such as a car breakdown or a temporary illness, can lead to a downward financial spiral that can prove impossible to reverse.

It has been an amazing book to read, packed with stories of real people trying to survive day-to-day life in America, discussions of the multi-layered challenges they face and lots of good statistics I can throw out during dinner with my Republican brother-in-law.

So I was pretty excited today when I saw the latest on the One America Committee website. Turns out Elizabeth and John Edwards are reading the book too (to their kids, apparently), and are leading a "book forum" and "bookcast" about it.

The bookcast is good — a comfortable, unscripted conversation between John, Elizabeth and the author David Shipler about the book, poverty in America and what we can do about it. It's a great use of the podcasting medium and one I hadn't thought of. John and Elizabeth solicited online questions from the forum prior to the bookcast which helped make it feel interactive, even though it was only the three of them there. So far, only part one of the two-part bookcast is up. The only negative is that it ends pretty abruptly, and right in the middle of a story I really wanted to hear, so I can't wait for part two to be posted. On the bright side, John Edwards doesn't say "son of a millworker," not once.

The bottom line is that everyone needs to read this book. The issues related to poverty in this country are much more complicated than "people are lazy" or "the system doesn't do enough", but behind the issues are real people just trying to make a life for themselves and their children. We may not get rid of the blight of poverty in our lifetime, but understanding some of the issues involved is a good start.