[.ca] A Roof Over My Head (ISBN 0870817310)

Very Important Book! Ignore the "New Right" Criticism:
"A Roof Over My Head" is an extremely important book! Williams not only delineates the indemic problems of the shelter industry and many of the myths surrounding the cultural construction of homelessness, but she also puts forth viable political and institutional changes that could be adopted to correct many of these failures. Williams shines a light in the darker corners of our culture of homelessness and the shelter industry and she shows how prominant physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are at this point systemic, and part of the general makeup of these social and insitutional locations. She outlines the ways in which these forms of coercion participation in the perpetuation of the problems that homeless women face, and homelessness itsself. Please ignore the other review, which is driven completely by an ideological agenda, typified by the religious "New Right," which wants to assert that oppression, abuse, and coercion are all "justified" by "moral" assertions that blame the victim--mainly through reinforcing stereotypes. Saying that Williams's book is part of "a virus" of the "abdication of responsibility" is just plain hogwash. "A Roof Over My Head" is the exact opposite of that, as it calls for us to take responsibility for the social and institutional aparatus that we've constructed which works often times to perpetuate a cycle of abuse, dependency, and seemingly inescapable homelessness. I recommend buying this book and seeing what changes you can make in your local community.

Just doesn't get it:
I gave the book two stars because the author makes a valid case for the need for battered women's shelters and homeless women's shelters to stop working at cross purposes to each other and recognize that the two conditions are often interrelated. Other than that, the book is just another symptom of a virus which has infected our society for decades, that of abdication of personal responsibility. Ms. Williams writes circles around the fact that most of the women in the book became homeless through a combination of character flaws and personal choices. This little bit of political correctness is the 800 lb. gorilla in the living room that everyone tip toes around but no one wants to confront. Why, Williams doesn't even think they should be expected to exhibit basic common decencies such as gratitude for what is done for and given to them, something I was taught from my very earliest childhood! She complains that the shelters treat their clients as if they aren't able to handle their own lives. She needs to wake up. Why does she think they're there in the first place? What it boils down to is this: Making excuses for antisocial behavior, allowing abdication of responsibility for personal life choices and giving handouts without expecting even a minimum of decency and responsibility on the part of the recipient is destructive on both an individual and societal level. Ms. Williams just doesn't get it and her book is NOT recommended.

A Book About Our Own Humanity:
I found myself returning to this book night after night with great interest, for the voices and stories of the homeless women, unique, gripping, and ultimately haunting, make this well-researched and articulate book a real page-turner. This book is a must read for anyone who has experienced the agony of seeing a homeless person on the street and the futility of not knowing what to do about it. A Roof Over My Head combines extensive interviews with homeless women, shelter case-workers and the housed (that's you and me, people who have roofs over our heads) to present a holistic and enlightening assessment of the causes of homelessness and also potential solutions our society could embrace. A Roof Over My Head should be read in classrooms and in book groups as well as in those thousands of private living rooms that can create a grass roots movement. Ultimately, this is a book about our own humanity.