Preface: an introduction to rural poverty -- The definitional complexities of poverty in Britain and the United States -- Rural poverty in Britain: from agricultural poverty to rural deprivation -- The broader contexts of rural poverty: disadvantage and social exclusion in the British countryside -- Rural poverty in the United States: statistical visibilities and persistent forms of poverty -- Housing poverty and homelessness in rural Britain and the United States -- The local contexts of rural poverty in Britain and the United States -- Shifting states of rural welfare in Britain and the United States -- Conclusion: towards new research agendas for rural poverty.