Matthew Desmond, a sociologist, author and 2015 MacArthur “Genius grant” award winner, earned his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010.
While still a graduate student, Desmond embedded himself into several Milwaukee communities using ethnography to follow eight families and their landlords to call attention to the national housing epidemic. The results produced groundbreaking research on the eviction and housing crises in America.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, is Desmond’s book that details his time in Milwaukee from a trailer park to a rooming-house. Evicted has been named one of The 10 Best Books of 2016 by the New York Times.
