By Mark Rank “Yet it turns out that the vast majority of Americans will experience at least one year below the poverty line,” Rank said. “Poverty touches all races, all regions of the country and all age groups. Very few of us are immune from the reach of poverty at some point. This understanding can shift our perceptions of the poor. In a sense, ‘We have met the enemy, and they are us.’” Informed by the latest research on poverty, “Poorly Understood” — co-authored by Lawrence Eppard of Shippensburg University and Heather Bullock of the University of California at Santa Cruz — not only challenges the myths of poverty and inequality, but explains why these myths continue to exist. It provides a blueprint for how the nation can move forward to effectively alleviate American poverty.