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Poverty Safari

Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass

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About this listen

The Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.
Winner of the Orwell Prize.
Named the most 'Rebellious Read of the 21st Century' in a Scottish Book Trust poll.

Brutally honest and fearless, Poverty Safari is an unforgettable insight into modern Britain, and will change how you think about poverty.

Darren McGarvey, award-winning author and presenter of BBC series The State We're In, has experienced poverty and its devastating effects first-hand. He knows why people from deprived communities all around Britain feel angry . . .

So he invites you to come on a safari of sorts. But not the kind where the wildlife is surveyed from a safe distance. This book takes you inside the experience of poverty to show how the pressures really feel and how hard their legacy is to overcome.

Arguing that both the political left and right misunderstand poverty as it is actually lived, McGarvey sets out what everybody – including himself – could do to change things.

'Another cry of anger from a working class that feels the pain of a rotten, failing system. Its value lies in the strength it will add to the movement for change.' – Ken Loach, director of Kes

 Politics & Government Poverty & Homelessness Social Classes & Economic Disparity Social Sciences Sociology Inspiring Thought-Provoking Africa

Critic reviews

Part memoir, part polemic, this is a savage, wise and witty tour-de-force. An unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty, Poverty Safari lays down challenges to both the left and right. It is hard to think of a more timely, powerful or necessary book. (J.K. Rowling)
Nothing less than an intellectual and spiritual rehab manual for the progressive left. (Irvine Welsh)
Another cry of anger from a working class that feels the pain of a rotten, failing system. Its value lies in the strength it will add to the movement for change. (Ken Loach)
Poverty Safari is an important and powerful book. (Nicola Sturgeon)
Poverty Safari documents in vivid, piercing and frequently funny prose, the reality of growing up in Pollok and the consequences of a chaotic family life (Stephen McGinty)
By his own account, Darren McGarvey’s first twenty-five years were a real-life version of Trainspotting . . . Poverty Safari [is] a painfully honest autobiographical study of deprivation and how society should deal with it . . . But what has made McGarvey such a particular figure of attention is his political message . . . [McGarvey] seems to offer an antidote to populist anger that transcends left and right . . . his urgently written, articulate and emotional book is a bracing contribution to the debate about how to fix our broken politics.
Poverty Safari is one of the best accounts of working-class life I have read. McGarvey is a rarity: a working-class writer who has fought to make the middle-class world hear what he has to say. (Nick Cohen)
If The Road to Wigan Pier had been written by a Wigan miner and not an Etonian rebel, this is what might have been achieved. McGarvey’s book takes you to the heart of what is wrong with the society free market capitalism has created. (Paul Mason)
The man seems to be on his way to becoming one of the most compelling and original voices in Scotland’s, and maybe Britain’s, public debate. If Scotland’s underclass could speak in a single, articulate, authentic voice to communicate to the rest of us what it’s like to be poor, isolated, brutalised, lost, it would sound very much like this.
Raw, powerful and challenging. (Kezia Dugdale)
A blistering analysis of the issues facing the voiceless and the social mechanisms that hobble progress, all wrapped up in an unput-downable memoir. (Denise Mina)
Describes in unflinching detail the realities of growing up poor in Britain and sets out to challenge the various ways in which poverty is represented in the media and on both sides of the political divide
A raw account of his own deprivation and addiction and a powerful political argument.
The standout, authentic voice of a generation . . . the world is looking for eloquent voices like McGarvey's to explain things
Utterly compelling. (Ian Rankin)
All stars
Most relevant
At points felt the author suffered from verbal diarea, but the story is brilliant and you need to listen to the entire book to understand the context. You can feel his anger and frustration of the plight of the poor and how he is trying to address the issue.

Emotional

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This is a magnificent work of non-fiction that everyone should have on their book shelf. if you think you may be in need of a privilege check (most of the people I know) then get a copy of this incredible work from McGarvey. keep doing what you do please you're so important to the fabric of our society.

Breathtakingly perceptive and insightful

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The author brings his story to light in a way I’m not sure would be possible in print. A remarkable journey of the self which many people could learn from.

Addictive listen

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Brilliantly written and passionately read, McGarvey says it all and gives the listener much to think about...

Just excellent!

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as a foreigner in the UK, I would never have a step into the world described here. But everyone wanting to understand the current societal situation here should.

it's also a great portrayal of people's psychology and how worlds close together can be so unimaginably different.

strongly recommended to read

truly insightful, beautifully written

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