The American Millstone - An Examination of the Nation's Permanent Underclass

A collection of 29 Tribune articles depict the harsh conditions of life of impoverished people living in a section of Chicago and examines the impact of poverty on American society. The existence of an underclass in itself is not new in the United States. What appears to be different today is the seemingly permanent entrapment of significant numbers of Americans, especially urban blacks, in a world apart at the bottom of society. For the first time, much of the rest of America seems to be accepting a permanent underclass as a fact of life...