LEADER 02815pam 2200193 a 4500
001 892518
005 20181210092822.0
008 181226s2018 nyu g b 001 0 eng d
010 $a2017056972
020 $a9780062412256 (hbk.) :$cNT$980
040 $aTWTNM$beng$dTWTNM
050 00$aHT690.U6$bQ37 2018
082 04$a305.550973$222
100 1 $aQuart, Alissa,$eauthor.
245 10$aSqueezed :$bwhy our families can't afford America /$cAlissa Quart.
250 $aFirst edition.
260 $aNew York, NY :$bEcco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,$c[2018].
300 $a312 p. ;$c24 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 271-295) and index.
505 00$tInconceivable : pregnant and squeezed --$tHyper-educated and poor --$tExtreme day care : the deep cost of American work --$tOutclassed : life at the bottom of the top --$tThe nanny's struggle --$tUber dads : moonlighting in the gig economy --$tThe second act industry : or the midlife do-over myth --$tSqueezed houses --$tThe rise of 1 percent television --$tSqueezed by the robots --$tConclusion: the secret life of inequality.
520 $aSqueezed weaves together intimate reporting with sharp and lively critique to show how the high cost of parenthood and our increasingly unstable job market have imploded the middle-class American Dream for many families, and offers surprising solutions for how we might change things. Families today are squeezed on every side--from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours. Many realize that attaining the standard of living their parents managed has become impossible. Alissa Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, examines the lives of many middle-class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children. Through gripping firsthand storytelling, Quart shows how our country has failed its families. Her subjects--from professors to lawyers to caregivers to nurses--have been wrung out by a system that doesn't support them, and enriches only a tiny elite. Interlacing her own experience with close-up reporting on families that are just getting by, Quart reveals parenthood itself to be financially overwhelming, except for the wealthiest. She offers real solutions to these problems, including outlining necessary policy shifts, as well as detailing the DIY tactics some families are already putting into motion, and argues for the cultural reevaluation of parenthood and caregiving. Written in the spirit of Barbara Ehrenreich and Jennifer Senior, Squeezed is an eye -opening page-turner. Powerfully argued, deeply reported, and ultimately hopeful, it casts a bright, clarifying light on families struggling to thrive in an economy that holds too few options. It will make readers think differently about their lives and those of their neighbors--$cProvided by publisher.
650 0$aHouseholds$xEconomic aspects$zUnited States.
650 0$aMiddle class$zUnited States$xEconomic conditions.
651 0$aUnited States$xEconomic conditions$y2009-.