"Brilliant--a keen, elegantly written, and scorching account of the American family today. Through vivid stories, sharp analysis and wit, Quart anatomizes the middle class's fall while also offering solutions and hope." -- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
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 audiobook. 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 listeners think differently about their lives and those of their neighbors.
About the Author :
Carly Robins is an actress, narrator, and voice-over artist. She can be heard in commercials, video games, and promos. She comes to audiobook narration with a passion for performance along with the capability to span several genres, from romance to children's literature and thrillers.
Alissa Quart is the executive editor of the journalism non-profit Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She co-founded its current incarnation with Barbara Ehrenreich. She is also the author of four previous acclaimed books, "Branded, '' "Republic of Outsiders, '' "Hothouse Kids'' and the poetry book "Monetized.'' She writes the Outclassed column for The Guardian and has published features and reported commentary in many magazines and newspapers, most recently for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Nation and The New York Review of Books. She has won the Columbia Journalism School's 2018 Alumni Award and the LA Press Club Award for Commentary, was a 2010 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a National Magazine Award.
Review :
Brilliant-a keen, elegantly written, and scorching account of the American family today. Through vivid stories, sharp analysis and wit, Quart anatomizes the middle class's fall while also offering solutions and hope.
-- "Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author"
Narrator Carly Robins takes her tone for much of this narration from the author's anger at the predicament of 'the middle precariat, ' the struggling (often failing) middle class...She varies her tone as the book changes focus. From that point, she is admirably clear, energetic, and adept at conveying the emotions behind the issues.
-- "AudioFile"
No wonder Americans feel financially stressed, says Quart...From policy fixes to more personal approaches, she's got solutions.
-- "Library Journal"
Quart deftly chronicles the plight of Americans confronting the dangerous rise of middle-class financial instability. Squeezed is journalism at its best: exploratory, visceral, and searching for answers. An important work to which attention should-and must-be paid.
-- "David Corn, author of Russian Roulette"
Quart's investigation, written with the elegance of a literary novel, forces us to examine the grave consequences of an economic structure that has crushed the very people it claims are at the heart of the American dream.
-- "Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty Wars"
The conception of the quiet contentment of middle-class American life appears to be on the wane...[Quart] lucidly demonstrates that for many, the dream of such satisfaction is increasingly out of reach.
-- "Boston Globe"
We haven't failed; Capitalism has failed us. As Quart reminds her reader...the economic bind we find ourselves in cannot be solved by personal discipline or better financial decisions.
-- "New York Times Book Review"
Well-written, wide-ranging, and vital to understanding American life today.
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
