Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass

By Darren McGarvey

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

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

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Aug 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781529006353

Darren McGarvey

Darren McGarvey aka Loki grew up in Pollok. He is a writer, performer, columnist and former rapper-in-residence at Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit. He has presented eight programmes for BBC Scotland exploring the root causes of anti-social behaviour and social deprivation. His novel Poverty Safari won the Orwell Prize 2018.

Reviews for Poverty Safari

[infjsarah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really interesting memoir? /autobiography? of someone who has grown up in a poor Glasgow community and had a lot of problems with addiction etc. His thoughts on apathy in poor communities and expecting someone else to "save" you in particular are worth reading. As are his explanations for this apathy.