Author Draws Line From Lyndon Johnson's 'War On Poverty' To Mass Incarceration

President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" was intended to lift up the poor and less educated in 1960s America. But Harvard University historian Elizabeth Hinton says it created a situation that eventually led to the mass incarceration of mostly African-American men.

Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti speaks with Hinton about her book, "From The War On Poverty To The War On Crime: The Making Of Mass Incarceration In America."

Hear the original Radio Boston segment from June 2016.

Elizabeth Hinton, assistant professor of history and African and African-American studies at Harvard University. Her new book is "From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America." She tweets @elizabhinton.