WARRIORS FOR THE POOR: The Story of VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America

by William H. & Ross Thomas Crook ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 29, 1968

The anti-poverty agency's former director and a novelist who once worked for VISTA tell its story in glowing terms. Focusing on volunteers in action, they describe successful community action programs that range from organizing food cooperatives and day care centers to fighting slum landlords or revamping city government. The four-year-old federal agency sends citizens (mainly under 25 years old) to live and work, among the nation's poor. An enlistment is for one year, pays fifty dollars a month plus educational benefits, and tends to appeal to middle-class college students and graduates whose skills may range from bricklaying to law. Ideally, the volunteers function mainly as ""sociological catalysts"" working first to change attitudes, i.e., to convince the poor that they can change things and to help them find efficient ways to solve their own problems. This book, the first account of VISTA, comes equipped with photographs (not seen here) and introductions by Hubert Humphrey and Sargent Shriver. It's a very readable and factual promotion piece perhaps of most interest to prospective volunteers and taxpayers.

Pub Date: Jan. 29, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION