How ironic, a book meant to "inform" you about struggling in a land of plenty costs around $100 to purchase. I'm assuming this book is meant for wealthy people to delve into poor people's lives for amusement.
Or it probably has something to do with the authors profession and making the requirements for her coursework purchase her book since that's one of the "required" materials for the class. Sounds like someone has a conflict of interest and needed some more money in their pockets