Barbara Enrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed filled much of NewMexiKen’s 10 hour trip home last night. The book, published in 2001, may change the way you feel about a lot of things, or perhaps reinforce them. As with Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which was written to describe the life of the industrial worker and ended up primarily as an expose of meat packing, Ehrenreich writes to tell about the life of working at $6 and $7 hour jobs, but you can’t help learning more than should know about restaurants and maid services.
An important, revealing, yet entertaining book; highly recommended.