Squeezed

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. These are the families who are trying to hold onto jobs, homes, and status in the face of declining salaries, uncertain work, and rising costs. But Robins's pervasive tone of wry cynicism and arch disapproval toward the status quo soon becomes tiresome. Eventually, however, 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. Unfortunately, her pronounced lisp is distracting and has to be gotten used to after every break from listening. Still, her expressiveness and deftness in conveying sense overcome the reading's shortcomings and make for a generally positive experience. W.M. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

April 30, 2018
Quart, editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, deep dives into the struggle of ordinary families whose middle-class American dream is frustratingly out of reach. Pregnancy discrimination, childcare that can cost more than college, crippling student loan debt, limitations on midlife career makeovers, and robots replacing humans are just some of the barriers to job stability and financial solvency she covers. Quart understands and communicates well about the myriad, complex, situations that prevent many contemporary families from achieving a standard of living comparable to that of their parents. Her profiles include the “hyper-educated poor,” adjunct professors who live in poverty, barely making a living wage; “extreme day care,” which can include 24-hour childcare for parents with harsh and erratic work schedules; and impoverished immigrant nannies, who are underemployed and often separated from their own families while caring for their employers’ children. Quart details sound policy-related solutions—an adjunct rights movement; free preschool; welfare-type assistance for elder care and childcare; an end to federal funding for sketchy, for-profit schools; and universal basic income. Her ambitious, top-tier reportage tells a powerful story of America today.

January 1, 2018

High child-care costs, meager family-leave policies, no dependable working hours. No wonder Americans feel financially stressed, says Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project; raising children is so expensive. From policy fixes to more personal approaches, she's got solutions. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2018

Blending personal accounts with data, Quart (executive editor, Economic Hardship Reporting Project) exposes the overwhelming economic, emotional, and social hardships faced by U.S. middle-class families. Among the problems affecting the status of the "middle precariat" (including highly educated professionals who theoretically should be more economically secure) are gender bias, pregnancy/motherhood discrimination, disdain for care workers, exorbitant housing prices, health insurance and day-care costs, excessive student debt, underemployment, and low wages. Those struggling to survive are not failures; Quart blames a systemic problem that neglects families and devalues caregiving. Proposed solutions include state-mandated "3-K" and pre-K, government-funded day care, cooperative parenting, stronger unions, and universal basic income. One chapter warns about robots and software gradually replacing hospital workers, pharmacy technicians, legal aids, lawyers, and eventually truck drivers. Finally, the author encourages a national conversation about the value of work, which could alter our collective perspective on providing for the most vulnerable. VERDICT Reminiscent of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, this straightforward work will resonate with those feeling squeezed, and inform those who are not.--Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2018
Fighting to stay in the middle class."The middle class is endangered on all sides," argues journalist Quart (Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers, and Rebels, 2014, etc.), executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit journalism group. In this highly thoughtful and compassionate account, she describes the forces that are making the traditional aspects of the "American Dream" out of reach for many Americans. "It's not your fault....The problem is systemic," she writes. She cites the rising costs of education, health care, rent, and day care as well as the negative effects of unstable work hours, declining unionism, the gig and freelance economy, the bias against mothers and older workers, automation, and the political shift to the right. In chapters highlighting the experiences of men and women (especially pregnant and single-parent), Quart demonstrates that the social system has left the middle class "stranded, stagnant, and impotent." The biggest culprit is "growing income inequality." Many people who "believed that their training or background would ensure that they would be properly, comfortably middle-class" are now " 'fronting' as bourgeois while standing on a pile of debt." The author delivers painful portraits of underemployed law school graduates, Uber-driving schoolteachers, and adjunct college professors--the "hyper-educated poor"--who earn less than $20,000 annually and shop exclusively at thrift shops. Often wracked by self-blame, isolated, and ashamed of their lack of money, those interviewed by Quart wonder how they are supposed to survive "doing what we love" in a society that undervalues caring and intellect and lacks subsidized day care and affordable housing. Some readers may balk at Quart's concern over the "psychological burden" facing upper-middle-class denizens in overpriced cities, but she offers excellent discussions of co-parenting, the problems facing immigrants, and the perils of enrolling in for-profit schools.Well-written, wide-ranging, and vital to understanding American life today.

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