The problems of poverty in America’s small towns

Book review: JanesvilleWashington Post journalist Amy Goldstein focuses on how the lives of ordinary Americans are affected by industrial decline.

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Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election has led to a surge in interest in the problems of poverty in America's small towns and rural areas. Goldstein, a journalist at The Washington Post, is the latest to focus on the topic, with this book "about the ordinary people of Janesville in southern Wisconsin, and how they lost their jobs, their pride and their future when General Motors closed its oldest assembly plant there in 2008", says Patti Waldmeir in the Financial Times. It captures "the pain of breadwinners who no longer are, of stay-at-home moms who must suddenly support everyone, of teens who take two or three after-school jobs to help pay their parents' grocery bills".

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

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