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Nickel and Dimed
The New York Times bestselling work of undercover reportage from our sharpest and most original social critic, with a new foreword by Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted
Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a job—any job—can be the ticket to a better life. But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour?
To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity—a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity" looks from the bottom. And now, in a new foreword, Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, explains why, twenty years on in America, Nickel and Dimed is more relevant than ever.
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Reviews
If you’ve ever worked in low wage jobs and had to live that kind of life, you will relate to this 100%. The writer captures the life and struggles of low wage workers perfectly. Very well written and interesting. You won’t be able to put it down. A must read for sure.
By Miss Natasha Dianne
If she wants to help the poor, and complains that the wealth are stingy, I would like to see her donate profits of this to the cause
By PaM BeAsLy!@
Best book ever!! I had to read it in a college creative writing course. I fell in love immediately ... I do not care her opinions are her own, and who cares if she’s liberal and she speaks for her family through this book! She isn’t whining about life she is describing the real situation. Becca
By jonesr41
This book is by far the worst book I have read this year. I would recommend it to no one. The author whines continuously. She bemoans the stupidity and apathy of the people she is supposedly trying to help. She thinks those who are proud of their work and ability are crazy. She berates the managers and owners of businesses calling them slave do drivers etc.. She also continuously condemns those who use the products and services of the people she works for. In other words she is a rich liberal with no concept of ordinary hard working people even though she claims to come from them..
By Rick & Pat
Admittedly, this book was required reading for a college class. But after the first 10 pages, I was hooked. This author gives an extremely accurate description of the plight of the working poor! I admit I will never look at Walmart the same way again. I lived this life from the ages of 18-21, and related so many ways. I highly recommend this as a recreational read. And if you too are required to read this for a course, I assure you, it's not a typical "dry" college read.
By QuiteFrankly89