In this second edition, twenty-four college professors, with roots in the working class, discuss the experience of significant upward mobility and the problems of adjustment to life in the academy. This collection of stories provides revelations about the social class system and academic life in the United States. Each of the autobiographies is prefaced with thoughtful discussions of how certain historical forces have affected the experiences of working class academics and how the United States' social class system is tied to higher education. The book connects these twenty-four personal experiences with three themes. First is the dual estrangement theme, whereby the upwardly mobile person lives in two very different worlds. The second theme explores internalized class conflict, where in many cases the different worlds are in serious conflict with each other. Finally the impostor phenomenon theme describes the event of an upwardly mobile person surviving the new environment by becoming someone else all the time. Strangers in Paradise will provide excellent text for courses and seminars in sociology, economics, and education. In addition, almost any person in the academy with working class roots will find some personal interest in this probing and relevant analysis.

In this book, Charles Sackrey analyzes the problem of urban poverty, pointing out the severe limitations of all existing data. He explains the different theories of the principal causes of urban poverty, in particular the poverty among urban blacks. Considerable attention is devoted to different methods of studying poverty and the important role each plays in determining the solutions finally offered for public consideration. There have been two basic kinds of antipoverty solutions over the past four decades: "liberal reform" and "revolutionary change." Having been at different times strongly sympathetic to both camps, Professor Sackrey has particular insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each. In the final chapters of his book he contrasts the past performance of each camp and evaluates what they have to offer for the future.