http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/000744.html Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and the Working Poor J. Bradford DeLong Barbara Ehrenreich (2000), Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (New York: Metropolitan Books: 0805063889). I have loved all of Barbara Ehrenreich's previous books. Even when I disagreed--and I often did--I admired the argument, enjoyed the process of reading, and learned a lot from every page. But this book was different. When I finished this book, I looked at it with a certain sense of what I can only call... loathing... I did not dislike this book because of its underlying project. Writing up for the rich the results of an upper-class essayist's anthropological mission to see how the other half live is worthwhile. It is part of the task of afflicting the comfortable which needs to be carried out much more strongly if we are ever to have a better society. The point of Ehrenreich's rapiers of intellect, art, and wit are as sharp as ever when she points out that even so-called "unskilled" work--perhaps especially so-called "unskilled" work--is demanding and challenging: the memory skills required of a waitress, the physical labor of a house cleaner with a vacuum on her back, and the en-us http://mccord.ourmemorybox.com/archives/2004/07/delong_on_ehren.php Brad DeLong has been reading Barbara Ehrenreich on the New York Times Opinion page and isn't much impressed: [H]er brand of left-wing politics is an infantile disorder. Left-wing politics is, for her, primarily a means of self-expression. The point is ... http://www.paulmusgrave.com/blog/archives/000240.html I find myself in the interesting position of taking the side of Barbara Ehrenreich against Brad DeLong. This is the reverse of my normal instincts, because DeLong is one of my favorite writers and Ehrenreich is the representative of a... http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2004_archives/001173.html Timothy Noah has fallen in love with Barbara Ehrenreich: Chatterbox: ...Barbara Ehrenreich has established herself as the Times's best columnist. This is, of course, a snap judgment, but Ehrenreich has long been one of the most eloquent voices on the l... http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2004_archives/001173.html Timothy Noah has fallen in love with Barbara Ehrenreich: Chatterbox: ...Barbara Ehrenreich has established herself as the Times's best columnist. This is, of course, a snap judgment, but Ehrenreich has long been one of the most eloquent voices on the l...