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About Stephen Pimpare

Stephen Pimpare is a Senior Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author of The New Victorians (New Press, 2004), A People's History of Poverty (New Press, 2008), Ghettos, Tramps & Welfare Queens (Oxford, 2017), and Politics for Social Workers (Columbia, 2021).

Stephen Pimpare is a Senior Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

Stephen's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Stephen:

Public Policy September 17, 2023

Your Money Or Your Life

Debt Collection in American Medicine

Luke Messac

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
A riveting exposé of medical debt collection in America -- and the profound financial and physical costs eroding patient trust in medicine For the crime of falling sick without wealth …
Public Policy September 15, 2023

Poverty in the Pandemic

Policy Lessons from COVID-19

Zachary Parolin

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
Zachary Parolin's book Poverty in the Pandemic: Policy Lessons from COVID-19 (Russell Sage Foundation, 2023) is interested in poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., as well as what the …
Public Policy September 1, 2023

The Injustice of Place

Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America

Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, and Timothy J. Nelson

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
A sweeping and surprising new understanding of extreme poverty in America from the authors of the acclaimed $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.  Three of the nation’s …
Public Policy August 26, 2023

Public Workers in Service of America

A Reader

Frederick W. Gooding Jr. and Eric S. Yellin

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
From white-collar executives to mail carriers, public workers meet the needs of the entire nation. In Public Workers in Service of America: A Reader (U Illinois Press, 2023), Frederick W. Gooding …
Public Policy August 16, 2023

On the Basis of Race

How Higher Education Navigates Affirmative Action Policies

Lauren S. Foley

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
Diversity in higher education is under attack as the Supreme Court limits the use of race-conscious admissions practices at American colleges and universities. In On the Basis of Race: How Higher …
Public Policy August 4, 2023

Families on the Edge

Experiences of Homelessness and Care in Rural New England

Elizabeth Carpenter-Song

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
An intimate account of rural New England families living on the edge of homelessness, as well as the practices and policies of care that fail them. Families on the Edge …
Public Policy August 2, 2023

Grow and Hide

The History of America's Health Care State

Colleen M. Grogan

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
A sweeping history of the American health care state that reveals the public has been intentionally misled about the true role of government. The US government has always invested federal …
Public Policy July 18, 2023

Homesick

Why Housing Is Unaffordable and How We Can Change It

Brendan O'Brien

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
Nobody who sits in traffic on Sedona, Arizona's main stretch or stands shoulder-to-shoulder in its many souvenir shops would call it a ghost town. Neither would anyone renting a room …
Public Policy May 11, 2023

Organizing for Power and Empowerment

The Fight for Democracy

Jacqueline Mondros and Joan Minieri

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Jacqueline Mondros and Joan Minieri's book Organizing for Power and Empowerment: The Fight for Democracy (Columbia UP, 2023) draws on extensive research to portray how social-action organizations have evolved over the …
Public Policy March 29, 2023

The Poverty Paradox

Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity

Mark Robert Rank

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The paradox of poverty amidst plenty has plagued the United States throughout the 21st century--why should the wealthiest country in the world also have the highest rates of poverty among …
Public Policy March 5, 2023

The Rise of a New Left

How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics

Raina Lipsitz

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The mushrooming rolls of the Democratic Socialists of America, Marxist explainers in Teen Vogue, and the outsized impact of the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all herald …
Public Policy March 2, 2023

What Things Cost

An Anthology for the People

Rebecca Gayle Howell, Ashley M Jones, and Emily J Jalloul

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
What Things Cost: An Anthology for the People (UP of Kentucky, 2023) is the first major anthology of labor writing in nearly a century. Here, editors Rebecca Gayle Howell & …
Public Policy March 1, 2023

Unequal Cities

Overcoming Anti-Urban Bias to Reduce Inequality in the United States

Richard McGahey

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Cities are central to prosperity: they are hubs of innovation and growth. However, the economic vitality of wealthy cities is marred by persistent and pervasive inequality—and deeply entrenched anti-urban policies …
Public Policy November 21, 2022

Eating While Black

Food Shaming and Race in America

Psyche A. Williams-Forson

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
In Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America (UNC Press, 2022), Psyche A. Williams-Forson offers her knowledge and experience to illuminate how anti-Black racism operates in the practice …
Public Policy November 15, 2022

Mass Incarceration Nation

How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How it Can Recover

Jeffrey Bellin

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors - historical, political, and …
Public Policy November 8, 2022

Who Cares

The Social Safety Net in America

Christopher Howard

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Societies are often judged by how they treat their most vulnerable members: the poor and near poor. In the United States, this responsibility belongs not only to governments, but also …
Public Policy September 20, 2022

Retail Inequality

Reframing the Food Desert Debate

Kenneth H. Kolb

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate (U California Press, 2021) examines the failure of recent efforts to improve Americans' diets by increasing access to healthy food. Based on exhaustive …
Public Policy June 23, 2022

City of Refugees

The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town

Susan Hartman

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town (Beacon Press, 2022) paints an intimate portrait of the newcomers revitalizing a fading industrial …
Public Policy June 22, 2022

Yes to the City

Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing

Max Holleran

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The exorbitant costs of urban housing and the widening gap in income inequality are fueling a combative new movement in cities around the world. A growing number of influential activists …
Public Policy May 17, 2022

Wicked Problems

The Ethics of Action for Peace, Rights, and Justice

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, Douglas Irvin-Erickson, and Ernesto Verdeja

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The ethics of changemaking and peacebuilding may appear straightforward: advance dignity, promote well-being, minimize suffering. Sounds simple, right? Actually acting ethically when it really matters is rarely straightforward. If someone …
Public Policy April 22, 2022

The Fundamental Institution

Poverty, Social Welfare, and Agriculture in American Poor Farms

Megan Birk

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
By the early 1900s, the poor farm had become a ubiquitous part of America's social welfare system. Megan Birk's history of this foundational but forgotten institution focuses on the connection …
Public Policy April 8, 2022

Fixing Social Security

The Politics of Reform in a Polarized Age

R. Douglas Arnold

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Since its establishment, Social Security has become the financial linchpin of American retirement. Yet demographic trends—longer lifespans and declining birthrates—mean that this popular program now pays more in benefits than …
Public Policy March 22, 2022

American Exceptionalism

A New History of an Old Idea

Ian Tyrrell

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Today I talked to Ian Tyrell about his book American Exceptionalism: A New History of an Old Idea (U Chicago Press, 2021).The idea that the United States is unlike every other …
Public Policy February 9, 2022

Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education

Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector

Rebecca S. Natow

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Rebecca S. Natow's book Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector (Teachers College Press, 2022) provides a comprehensive description of the federal government's relationship …