Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (Paperback)

by Barbara Ehrenreich (Author)

No customer reviews yet. Be the first.

Price:	CDN$ 14.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

17 new from CDN$ 4.20 29 used from CDN$ 1.08

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

by Barbara Ehrenreich

4.0 out of 5 stars (1) CDN$ 18.59

This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation

by Barbara Ehrenreich

CDN$ 12.41

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

by Barbara Ehrenreich

3.7 out of 5 stars (704)

› Explore similar items

Product Details

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Owl; 1st edition edition (Jul 25 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805081240
ISBN-13: 978-0805081244
Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.7 x 2.3 cm
Shipping Weight: 227 g
Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #114,185 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories:

#5 in	Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Unemployment
#5 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > Economics > Unemployment
#6 in	Books > Nonfiction > Economics > Unemployment

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

A wild bestseller in the field of poverty writing, Ehrenreich's 2001 exposé of working-class hardship, Nickel and Dimed, sold over a million copies in hardcover and paper. If even half that number of people buy this follow-up, which purports "to do for America's ailing middle class what [Nickel and Dimed] did for the working poor," it too will shoot up the bestseller lists. But PW suspects that many of those buyers will be disappointed. Ehrenreich can't deliver the promised story because she never managed to get employed in the "midlevel corporate world" she wanted to analyze. Instead, the book mixes detailed descriptions of her job search with indignant asides about the "relentlessly cheerful" attitude favored by white-collar managers. The tone throughout is classic Ehrenreich: passionate, sarcastic, self-righteous and funny. Everywhere she goes she plots a revolution. A swift read, the book does contain many trenchant observations about the parasitic "transition industry," which aims to separate the recently fired from their few remaining dollars. And her chapter on faith-based networking is revelatory and disturbing. But Ehrenreich's central story fails to generate much sympathy—is it really so terrible that a dabbling journalist can't fake her way into an industry where she has no previous experience?—and the profiles of her fellow searchers are too insubstantial to fill the gap. Ehrenreich rightly points out how corporate culture's focus on "the power of the individual will" deters its employees from organizing against the market trends that are disenfranchising them, but her presentation of such arguments would have been a lot more convincing if she could have spent some time in a cubicle herself. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From AudioFile

Tony-nominated actress Anne Twomey has the perfect voice for Ehrenreich's prose. Funny, sarcastic, even angry, she's also feminine, charming. Published in 2001, Ehrenreich's bestseller NICKEL AND DIMED chronicled her adventures at the bottom of the pay scale. Here she changes her name and tries to get a middle-class job, but fails. "Hi, I'm Barbara Alexander," she learns to say, "and I'm a crackerjack PR person." No soap, although there are a great many people eager to sell her soap of their own. Those she encounters guide retail techniques, contacts, and perhaps most pernicious--attitude. They recommend a stance so cheerful and so slavish as to constitute a defeat much graver than unemployment. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

See all Product Description

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

	50% buy Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America 4.0 out of 5 stars (1) CDN$ 18.59
	25% buy the item featured on this page: Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream CDN$ 14.50
	17% buy Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy CDN$ 13.14
	8% buy Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America 3.7 out of 5 stars (704)