Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

 by Barbara Ehrenreich

This engrossing piece of undercover reportage has been a fixture on the New York Times best seller list since its publication. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America’s working-class poor. A successful author, Barbara Ehrenreich decides to see if she can scratch out a comfortable living in a blue-collar America obsessed with welfare “reform”. What she discovers is a culture of desperation, where workers take multiple thankless jobs just to keep a roof overhead. Often humorous and always illuminating, Nickel and Dimed is a remarkable expose of the ugly flip side of the American dream.