Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America | 
 enlarge | Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 71
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0805088385
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.569092
EAN: 9780805088380
ASIN: 0805088385
Publication Date: June 24, 2008
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Product Description
The bestselling, landmark work of undercover reportage, now updated Acclaimed as an instant classic upon publication, Nickel and Dimed has sold more than 1.5 million copies and become a staple of classroom reading. Chosen for “one book” initiatives across the country, it has fueled nationwide campaigns for a living wage. Funny, poignant, and passionate, this revelatory firsthand account of life in low-wage America—the story of Barbara Ehrenreich’s attempts to eke out a living while working as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart associate—has become an essential part of the nation’s political discourse. Now, in a new afterword, Ehrenreich shows that the plight of the underpaid has in no way eased: with fewer jobs available, deteriorating work conditions, and no pay increase in sight, Nickel and Dimed is more relevant than ever.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Read it and understand August 25, 2008
Another book explaining how we as a superpower are continuing to do a disservice to our own people. We can spend Billions on other countries to insure they have high-speed internet, but fight when it comes to guarnteeing medical for our children. It is not just that the system is not working... it is so far broken that it has been forgotten. How do we fix this? My grandma suggested an atmoic bomb, and although I thought this was ludicrious at first, I am begining to come around.
 Perhaps she meant well August 23, 2008
If you'd like to hear the voices of the real working poor, get a copy of Without A Net: the female experience of growing up working class, edited by Michelle Tea. It is more poignant than a journalist's game of dress up.
Bitter is as Bitter Does.. why I, as an employer, would NEVER hire her August 23, 2008
I think the premise was a good idea as a whole, but I don't believe Barbara Ehrenreich was the one to present it.
She tends to have a victim attitude in life, and a contempt for people who are successful, which I find ironic since I am sure she is not standing on a street corner giving away her profits from the book.
She opens fine and the footnotes are somewhat interesting but then she goes off on tangents that have nothing to do with the book. She claims to have this disdain for others who she feels are elitists but then she turns around and does the same thing herself. One example, which has no place in this story, in my opinion is when she, as an avid atheist, decided to attend a revival for fun, then not only proceeded to mock the people who went but called Jesus a socialist among other things I would rather not repeat. My opinion of her formed very quickly from that point.
She also points out that management in one of the companies she works for were simply jerks. Granted we all know the types but she didn't even try to see it from a balanced point of view. The Maid Company she worked for had some hard rules, like no water on the job, etc., which I found to be unreasonable, however she ended up blaming the homeowners, some that she never met. She had disdain for a Buddhists home who had spiritual messages throughout his house, once again she never met this person, yet felt free to judge.
Also as far as management is concerned, as a business owner I realize how some people are in this position but there are also two sides to a coin. She mentions how much she dislikes the people she works for with the "rules" yet in the next breath she talks about her and the "maids" in the company car driving through a nice area with the radio blarring and yelling "F*** YOU" out the car window to moms with stollers. When they cringed she mentions how she finds this behavior hysterically funny. Gee and you wonder why they have to set up rules. I wouldn't want her representing my company.
The book is not balanced. Last but not least, she claims so many of these people are in poverty, yet I can't help notice how many of them have no "lunch " money yet have plenty of funds for smoking and having kid after kid. Just an observation. It's too bad really the subject matter would have been good had it not been so tainted by attitude.
I have no doubt there are a great deal of working poor who are making ends meet and having a hard time. Those are the people she should have sought out. I believe she was too blinded by her anger or perhaps guilt over her own success to see it clearly.
 Eh, it's so-so. August 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I thought the concept of this book would be very interesting. However, the Author's delivery, not so much. I would have liked more details about her co-workers, friendships and follow ups on where are they now or simply more of a personal insite to the people. She was very "on the surface" with alot of descriptions. The Author was a bit arrogant by constantly reminding us about her eduation and background. I hope once she published this book that she gave something back to the hard working people that "helped" in her research. Or at least gave them a (free) copy of the book! The Author ends with some very strong and thought provoking points. All in all it's an ok book if you're not into details.
 WTF? A very enlightening read indeed... August 16, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I mean really now. Who sees any sort of humor at all in this book?
I actually find the author's tone to be completely indignant and arrogant, she is ungracious, unkind, even cruel in her tone towards her "friends" and co-workers while she is playing poor.
She even goes so far as to compare her plight to that of a princess being punished by being forced to hand feed all her subjects... this lady is a real piece of work. She is absolutely deplorable and such a snobbish, egotistical (well a not so very nice person)! Her "insights" and her surprising realizations scare me, I mean if real people actually find shock and awe at the same everyday DUH she makes a big fuss over, then this country is way past salvageable!!!
She is a career essayist who lowers herself to play poor for a little while, and tries to maintain a decent quality of life while getting by on minimum wage, something which is definitely not her area of expertise. She describes looking for places to live, jobs, working conditions and overall environments of the places she goes.
She alienated, humiliated, and demeaned almost everyone she met, though not in any sort of dialog to their face, just her thoughts about them...
This is definitely a must read, but not for the reasons by which I kept being mislead. For people like myself, this is at times hard to read, however it is definitely a book you will not soon forget, and definitely an author you will not soon forget either.
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