John Iceland Berkley wrote the handbook “Poverty in America” which provides an in-depth look at the trends, patterns, and causes of poverty in the United States. Iceland combines the latest statistical information, historical data, and social scientific theory to provide a comprehensive picture of poverty in America, a picture that shows how poverty is measured and understood and how this has changed over time, as well as how public policies have grappled with poverty as a political issue and an economic reality, speculations and arguments that eloquently contest conventional wisdom about the links between individual failure, family breakdown, and poverty in America. In the introduction Iceland targeted one of the key factors that perpetuate poverty that leads to crime. “Some of the harmful effects of poverty are due to low income, while some result from other family conditions that often accompany poverty, such as family instability, and low levels of education.” (2003) it is true that many poor Americans lack a proper education, but are they necessarily the ones to blame? More often than not, these poor communities have schools whom the school system and the government provide very little resources if any to work with. The teachers are left with oversized classrooms, few books, and a small paycheck. Speculation among some communities also suggests that after the Civil War, slaves were turned loose without education and fair opportunity to provide for themselves or their families. This, along with the already lowered perception of these freed slaves, caused a longtime rift in social and economic standards in equality, education and opportunity. Iceland also combats the myth that African American residents of inner cities are the majority of the poor population. When in fact African Americans may be overrepresented among the poor, they only make up one-quarter of the poor population. Another common misconception is that those who are poor are lazy, and