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From:David K. Shipler , Knopf ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#87017 |
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9 of 17 customers found the following review helpful:
 You better believe it!, 2005-07-01
This is a great book from the standpoint of someone with serious credibility substantiating the difficulties faced by the majority of Americans.
I have been homeless after being laid-off,only later to be underemployed even after getting a usable college degree,working very hard and "doing the right things" as everyone around me encouraged me in these things.Some might call me a loser, but i even went so far as to write letters to dozens of employers offering to work for free in exchange for a chance to upgrade my skills and get a positive letter of recommendation- no one gave me a chance even then.
To add to Ms. Ehrenreich's observations:
1) There are very few safety nets in America,contrary to popular belief. If you get to the point I was, you will learn for yourself.
2)In working for one major retailer EVERYONE knows(not Walmart) some of my own experience:
a) after spending 3 hours typing 10 pages of constructive ideas to improve business for customers and employees( while increasing profitability )on my own time and sending them to corporate, all I received back was essentially emails saying- "Who are you?"/"Why do you care"?/"Stop bugging us"
b)when telling a junior that i worked hard to ensure he succeeds, the response was "it doesn't matter"-that manager was promoted
c) when informing another junior manager that customers were leaving angry because we could not fulfill basic customer service from being short-staffed, the manager responded-"no problem- they'll be back"
d)another full-fledged manager,when told certain tasks didn't get done because there was not enough staff and everyone was doing the equivalent work of 2-3 people, responded- "what is the maximum range of an excuse"- that manager by the way, being a new member of America's wealthiest
e)having wages that might qualify as below poverty level and working very very hard just for that, i approached my manager asking for overtime or help as I was going to be homeless and could not afford the rents in the area, that manager went on to cut any overtime available to me
7 of 9 customers found the following review helpful:
A great even-handed look at the politics of poverty, 2005-06-26
This book is much more high-brow and academic than say Nickle and Dimed or Jonathan Kozol's books. However, what I appreciated most was the author's refusal to blame either Conservatives or Liberals for the current state of poverty in the country. (Kozol's books, by contrast, are heavily left-leaning.) Shipler actually interviewed some of the employers of poor people, an interesting side of the equation that is usually ignored by liberal writers. The only thing I disagree with is his views on cable TV--this made me very angry. Cable TV is a luxury item! I sure never had it growing up. I don't think people who are scraping up money for food and rent should be wasting $50 or more a month on cable. I don't buy the author's argument that poor people would be cut off from society without cable. What BS. Other than that, I liked the book. I agree with the author that poverty stems from both environmental and innate factors, some factors the poor can control but many they cannot.
5 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
This'll Make You Cry, 2005-06-25
The stories of America's working poor are enough to make you cry at times - the utter helplessness in which many of us exist every day. It's sad that something as mundane as "money" has such a real effect on how we live our lives - at the top of the money food chain and at the bottom.
Fascinating.
9 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
Packed with Knowledge!, 2005-06-10
In spite of grueling hours and brutal conditions, hard work is no guarantee of prosperity in the American economy. So writes journalist David Shipler in this exhaustive study of the folks left behind by the American economic boom. Shipler talks to factory workers in New Hampshire, farm workers in North Carolina and garment workers in California. He paints a picture of a predatory economy with little room for the unsophisticated and unskilled. This work, which was nominated for a prestigious National Book Critics' Circle Award, is ambitious in its scope and compelling in its detail. Some readers, however, might chafe at Shipler's refusal to accept either liberal or conservative formulas: after presenting ample evidence of the poor's own culpability for their plight, however partial, he blames both, an indifferent society and family dysfunction for poverty. We strongly recommend this sweeping study to employers and to anyone interested in the seemingly intractable gap between rich and poor.
6 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
A Searing Look At Poverty In America, 2005-04-17
Poverty is a marginalization of good and decent people. It is about a lack of money, and it is about far more. It is also about the myth that if one works hard that one will not be poor. In fact, most persons who are poor do work hard. Most hard work is rewarded at a low level of pay because our system rewards the employer who pays at the lowest level that can be achieved.
The author discusses the problem of Asthma in America caused primarily by the poor living in cities and in poor housing. He also discusses malnutrition in America.
The more money we invest in our children, the lesser amount of money we will need to invest in prisons. More than that, if we will reduce the poverty of millions of children then we will have a much more wonderful society in which to live. Our society works in part like a chain-link fence. That is, the overall quality of our society is no better than the weakest link in our "chain-link fence" of security for our citizens.
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