First published in 1999, examined the nature of poverty through the stories of real people in three remote rural areas of the United States: New England, Appalachia, and the Mississippi Delta. In this new edition, Duncan returns to her original research, interviewing some of the same people as well as some new key informants. Duncan provides powerful new insights into the dynamics of poverty, politics, and community change. "What stories Mil Duncan has to tell! In this new edition of her classic , she offers sage advice about how to begin to reverse the dangerously growing divide between rich and poor in our country."—Robert Putnam, author of and "A mosaic of intimate portraits revealing the social, economic, and political isolation of rural poverty, is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the root causes of inequality in America."—Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation