Days of Destruction. Days of Revolt Book

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and American Book Award-winning cartoonist Joe Sacco deliver a searing on-the-ground graphic reportage on underclass America ; ; Camden New Jersey with a population of 70 390 is per capita the poorest city in the US. It is also the most dangerous. The city's real unemployment - hard to estimate since many residents have been severed from the formal economy for generations - is probably 30 to 40 percent. The median household income is $24 600 (approximately £.15 200). There is a 70 percent high school dropout rate with only 13 percent of students managing to pass the state's proficiency exams in maths. The city is planning draconian budget cuts with officials talking about cutting 25 percent from every department including layoffs of nearly half the police force. There are perhaps a hundred open-air drugs markets and the city is awash with guns. ; ; Camden like America was once an industrial giant. It employed some 36 000 workers in its shipyards during World War II and was the home to major industries including Campbell's Soup. Once a destination for immigrants and upwardly mobile lower middle class families Camden now resembles a penal colony. ; ; In Days of Destruction Days of Revolt Hedges and Sacco show what huge pockets of the United States will turn into if a permanent underclass is cemented into place. In addition to Camden they report from other "sacrifice zones" - the coal fields of West Virginia Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the farms of Florida - before concluding their journey in Zuccotti Park New York where they report on the Occupy Movement and the rebellion that gives them some hope for the future. ; ; With unemployment and underemployment combined at far over ten percent as Congress proposes to slash Medicare and Medicaid Food Stamps Social Security and other social services Hedges and Sacco warn of a bleak near future - where cities and states fall easily into bankruptcy neo-feudalism reigns and the nation's working and middle classes are decimated. A shocking report from the frontlines of poverty in America Days of Destruction Days of Revolt is a clarion call for reform.Read More