Worlds Apart

Cynthia M. Duncan is founding director of the Carsey Institute for Families and Communities at the University of New Hampshire and research director at AGree, an initiative bringing together diverse interests to transform food and agricultural policy in the United States.

“What stories Mil Duncan has to tell! In this new edition of her classic Worlds Apart, 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 Bowling Alone and Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis“A mosaic of intimate portraits revealing the social, economic, and political isolation of rural poverty, Worlds Apart is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the root causes of inequality in America.”—Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation“The classics don’t get out of date. Cynthia Duncan’s unflinching account of rural poverty, updated and still fresh, combines a journalistic punch and elegant analysis. The gripping stories of Appalachian feudalism, Mississippi racism, and Maine decency make this a book you can’t put down.”—Peter Edelman, author of So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America“The impossible happened. The first edition of Worlds Apart, which has long been viewed as the classic introduction to rural poverty, is now an even more powerful demonstration of the role of local institutions in generating poverty. Another instant classic.”—David B. Grusky, director, Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality