Dwight Macdonald and Poverty Discourse, 1960-1965: The Art and Power of a Seminal Book Review

<p>This paper examines the role Dwight Macdonald and his review essay "Our Invisible Poor" (<em>New Yorker</em>, January 1963) played in bringing American poverty into U.S. public discourse in the early 1960s. Macdonald's article furthered the discussion about poverty that Michael Harrington's book, <em>The Other America</em>, had begun the previous year. It thereby spurred legislative action to remedy the social ills of American poverty through the Kennedy/Johnson administrations' War on Poverty by 1965. Set within a complex matrix of social, cultural, political, and historical forces, Macdonald's article was widely read, expansively disseminated, and had an important impact on legislation. This essay is built upon the scholarship of David Paul Nord and his ideas about communities of journalism. The impact of Macdonald's essay is examined through a review of secondary sources and primary research in Macdonald's papers, the <em>New Yorker</em> archives, and discourse analysis of <em>New York Times</em> coverage.</p>