This book opens the doors to the homes of the forgotten poor and traces the goods they owned before, during and after the industrial revolution (c. 1650–1850). Using a vast and diverse range of sources, it gets to the very heart of what it meant to be ‘poor’ by examining the homes of the impoverished and mapping how numerous household goods became more widespread. As the book argues, poverty did not necessarily equate to owning very little and living in squalor. In fact, its novel findings show that most of the poor strove to improve their domestic spheres and that their demand for goods was so great that it was a driving force of the industrial revolution.

With more than 450,000 copies in print, When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation. Poverty is much more than simply a lack of material resources, and it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve it. When Helping Hurts shows how some alleviation efforts, failing to consider the complexities of poverty, have actually (and unintentionally) done more harm than good. But it looks ahead. It encourages us to see the dignity in everyone, to empower the materially poor, and to know that we are all uniquely needy—and that God in the gospel is reconciling all things to himself. Focusing on both North American and Majority World contexts, When Helping Hurts provides proven strategies for effective poverty alleviation, catalyzing the idea that sustainable change comes not from the outside in, but from the inside out.

Jean Thomas and his wife, Joy, have lived in Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti, since 1982. Jean was born in central Haiti?the son of a Baptist pastor. Joy grew up in Oregon. They met at Voice of Calvary Ministries in Jackson, Mississippi, and married in 1981. Learn how Jean and Joy have put the principles of relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution to work in Fond-des-Blancs. This account of personal commitment includes hardship and success. It teaches practical Christian involvement as Jean shares the story of projects that minister to the spiritual, physical, educational, economic, and medical needs of their community.

Examines the forms that poverty takes in American families and what can be done to remedy it.