Reviews & Media Interviews for The Shame Game
LATEST REVIEWS:
READ The Washington Post Review of The Shame Game HERE
'An American tradition: Shaming the poor’
“Illuminates the disparagement that the poor confront in a prosperous America”.
Prospect Magazine
‘How coronavirus could shift the toxic poverty narrative’
“It is rare that the central argument of a book is so eerily transformed by events. If it had not been for the coronavirus, Mary O’Hara’s The Shame Game would have been respectfully received and tidily shelved alongside several other stringent assessments of the ugly politics of austerity.
“Instead, over a million previously employed UK citizens have applied for universal credit, with many unable to meet their mortgage and rent payments. In our new world, this reads less a study of them and us, than potentially a book about us all.”
VIEW DIGITAL
“Although Mary did not intend it, this book is even more relevant now – set against the raging Covid-19 pandemic and the warnings of economic gloom and hardship in the coming months and years. The Shame Game‘ is a welcome addition to all those who reject the ‘toxic poverty narrative.”
READ AN EXTRACT FROM THE SHAME GAME IN THE GUARDIAN HERE
Online Reader reviews
“If you only read one book on this topic, read this one.”
“Mary speaks from the heart and draws upon her own personal experiences. A book that should be read and read and read again.”
“An authoritative, authentic and powerful book that challenges and reframes our understanding of poverty.”
“Mary O'Hara's important and enlightening book explains how we need to develop a new narrative emphasising that everyone has the right to live with dignity and freedom from poverty.”
“For many years O'Hara has been writing for The Guardian shining a light on those groups we are all guilty of conveniently ignoring, particularly the poor and the disabled. In this moving book she focuses on poverty and reveals the heart-breaking experience of people who find themselves living week to week, both practically and in terms of the sense of shame and helplessness.”
“A necessary book in divisive times”
“Following up on Austerity Bites, Mary O’Hara shows us why poverty sucks. Not just for the obvious reasons of struggle and deprivation, but because poverty is produced by a specific style of politics that revels in the shame of others, a politics where the US and the UK are past masters.”
“Rich people should be required to read this book and poor people should be allowed to. I have rarely seen a more broad and beautiful picture of people who have done more with less than this book.
O’Hara has woven a rich tapestry of joy and terror and talent and lost opportunities and the picture she draws is the most comprehensive description of poverty I’ve seen yet.”
“I worked with Mary , and she sees the potential of talent and magic in every kid and every adult. This book explores the absolute travesty of blaming each other. I grew up on an estate and know the things people out there say. This book tackles the shame game, and reminds you we are all one!”
“The Shame Game is the book we need right now. Real story, by people who have lived that story, smashing apart the divisive narratives around poverty that are so damaging to all of us.”
“In a time of extreme social and economic division, Mary O’Hara lifts the lid on who truly benefits from keeping us divided and how we can flip the script of poverty to make a fairer society for all. A powerful and important book.”
I want to just plug our friend Mary O’Hara’s book. She’s coming out with a new book called the Shame Game – Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative. It’s a whole book about what it means to be poor and that poor people have long been thought of as someone who deserves that position, that they’ve done something to deserve it and that’s just truly not the case.
She dives into the UK and the US narratives of poverty. She has some personal stories. She herself grew up in Ireland in the shit of it and has some heartbreaking things to say about her upbringing … she has obviously pulled herself up by her bootstraps but – again – talking about that, sometimes it’s not as simple as pulling yourself up by your bootstraps because you don’t have any f*** boots on, and you don’t have any hands, and there’s no one there to tie your f*** bootlaces…