Twenty-five million Americans-nearly 9 percent of the U.S. population-rely on food pantries. Another 13 million aren't linked to a food distribution network, and 14 million children are at risk of going hungry on any given day. Moreover, the faltering economy is increasing the number of American families that don't know where their next meals are coming from.

Breadline USA treats this crisis not only as matter of failed policies, but also as a portrait of real human suffering. Investigative reporter Sasha Abramsky focuses attention on the people behind the statistics-the families caught up in circumstances beyond their control. Breadline USA is a vivid reminder of the fate to which many more Americans may be subject without urgent action.

Sasha Abramsky is an award-winning magazine writer and book author .His work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Mother Jones, the Nation, the London Guardian and many other publications. He is a senior fellow at Demos and teaches in the writing program at the University of California at Davis. Abramsky lives in Sacramento, California with his wife and two children.

Acknowledgments -- Note on Sources -- Prologue -- chapter 1 Driving to Hunger -- Interlude I -- chapter 2 When the Month Is Longer Than the Money -- Interlude II -- chapter 3 Trickle-up Poverty -- Interlude -- III chapter 4 Big-Box Special -- Interlude IV -- chapter 5 Elderly, Angry, and Looking for Work -- Interlude V -- chapter 6 Grapes of Wrath Regurgitated Conclusion: After the Fall -- Index