Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich, Polly Toynbee

I heard about this book from email friends in the US and was astonished that a book on low pay had gained so much attention. I'm very glad it did and I hope it inspires some of its readers to joining in the pursuit of change. A US journalist and writer, with a good income and comfortable standard of living, Barbara Ehrenreich became a low paid worker in 3 sectors in different US cities, taking the jobs and trying to make ends meet on the wages, with the intention of writing about her experiences. One of the dangers of a book like this is that it can appear patronising. And how can someone ...  Read the complete review

Amazon has a lot to answer for, namely for making me buy more books. Now and then I'll log in, find a book I've bought in the past and enjoyed and scroll down to the part where it says "Customers who bought this also bought...." to see if there are any books on the list that look like fun. That's how I got sent to a book called "Hard Work, Low Pay", about live in low pay Britain, and from there, after reading and enjoying that book, I made the jump myself to this one - along the same lines but set in the USA. Barbara Ehrenreich is an American journalist with a distinguished career behind her. The sort of person who can ...  Read the complete review