Book Cover Design of “Overseers of the Poor” by John Gillion

Book Cover Design of “Overseers of the Poor” by John Gilliom

Don Adleta

2001

The cover interprets documented stories from the Athens’ region. Gilliom’s research revealed that poor food-stamp families were under the federal government’s surveillance. His case studies included a poor single-parent mom whose privacy was violated and her food stamps were jeopardized because she took her children to her grandparents to be watched. While she only completed essential activities, she was watched, recorded and prosecuted threatening her eligibility to receive her benefits. The irony of this case is profound because the costs associated with this level of surveillance was nowhere equivalent to the cost of the actual food stamps.

This book is written by John Gilliom, professor of Political Science, Ohio University.  The publisher is the University of Chicago Press.