The Necessity of Poverty by John Bird is a non-fiction social critique and memoir-inflected political book that combines personal experience with social and political critique. Drawing on his own experiences of homelessness and care, Bird argues that traditional charity and welfare systems often manage or sustain poverty rather than address its root causes, calling instead for structural change. Bird was homeless from age five and raised in an orphanage until ten, he later worked as a butcher’s boy, stole to supplement his income, and spent periods in prison during his teens and twenties, where he learned to read, write, and the basics of printing.