Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
By Barbara Ehrenreich
Ehrenreich in this book calls attention to the millions of Americans working full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In her research, Ehrenreich took minimum-wage jobs in 1998 (inspired by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform promising that any job was a ticket to a better life) in three cities to see if survival was possible. Her first-hand investigation and discouraging findings have caught the attention of the media and finally brought national attention to the plight of the working poor.
Rima Schultz, Chicago historian spent ten years researching and editing her new book