What do you think?
Rate this book
Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class
The story of a disillusioned generation that set out to reclaim its dignity and take on corporate America.
In recent years, young college grads have faced an alarming crushing debt, unemployment, and jobs below their qualifications. They are frustrated that the time and money they invested in a degree have failed to bring about the opportunities they were promised.
The anger of this college-educated working class began to boil over during the Covid pandemic, when workers at companies like Apple and Starbucks shocked corporate America by voting to unionize. Not long after, the veteran New York Times reporter Noam Scheiber met Chaya Barrett, an astute college grad and eight-year Apple employee who had helped organize her coworkers at an Apple store near Baltimore.
While following Barrett and her cohort as their seemingly spontaneous rebellions spread far and wide—from college-educated workers at Apple stores and Starbucks cafés, through video-game studios, and even to Hollywood writers’ rooms—Scheiber realized he was witnessing something deep and lasting. Mutiny is the revelatory account of a generation made confident by their historic educational achievements, only to become disillusioned when their degrees yielded far less than they were taught to expect.
With striking empathy, Scheiber paints a vivid portrait of this new working class while telling the dramatic story of its revolt against the status quo. He describes how recent developments like the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the war in Gaza have further fueled its discontent, and he explains why the college-educated working class will continue to demand change in the workplace, in cities like New York, and in national politics for years to come.
In recent years, young college grads have faced an alarming crushing debt, unemployment, and jobs below their qualifications. They are frustrated that the time and money they invested in a degree have failed to bring about the opportunities they were promised.
The anger of this college-educated working class began to boil over during the Covid pandemic, when workers at companies like Apple and Starbucks shocked corporate America by voting to unionize. Not long after, the veteran New York Times reporter Noam Scheiber met Chaya Barrett, an astute college grad and eight-year Apple employee who had helped organize her coworkers at an Apple store near Baltimore.
While following Barrett and her cohort as their seemingly spontaneous rebellions spread far and wide—from college-educated workers at Apple stores and Starbucks cafés, through video-game studios, and even to Hollywood writers’ rooms—Scheiber realized he was witnessing something deep and lasting. Mutiny is the revelatory account of a generation made confident by their historic educational achievements, only to become disillusioned when their degrees yielded far less than they were taught to expect.
With striking empathy, Scheiber paints a vivid portrait of this new working class while telling the dramatic story of its revolt against the status quo. He describes how recent developments like the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the war in Gaza have further fueled its discontent, and he explains why the college-educated working class will continue to demand change in the workplace, in cities like New York, and in national politics for years to come.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published April 7, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 25, 2026
3.5 stars
Interesting, well-written book about young college grads struggling to find jobs in their disciplines and instead working at places like Starbucks and the Apple store. What I appreciated most about this book was how Noam Scheiber thoughtfully portrayed the stories and interviews of these folks. It was moving and compelling to read about what they expected to get from a college degree and then the economic hardship they faced afterward. It was intriguing too to read their unionizing efforts.
I wanted more from this book in terms of how we got here though, to this issue of young college graduates struggling to get jobs in their fields. Scheiber mentions trends like the alarming proliferation of AI use and companies using AI and then laying off workers; he also writes about different political factions’ receptivity to unions. But I desired a bit more analysis about the deeper roots behind why college educated folks are struggling to find relevant jobs. I think it also would’ve been relevant to know more about Scheiber’s positionality, though maybe that’s more of a research methods-based wish than a journalistic one. Anyway, rounding up to four stars because this was a pleasant read on the sentence-level and I felt Scheiber took his interviewees’ lives seriously.
Interesting, well-written book about young college grads struggling to find jobs in their disciplines and instead working at places like Starbucks and the Apple store. What I appreciated most about this book was how Noam Scheiber thoughtfully portrayed the stories and interviews of these folks. It was moving and compelling to read about what they expected to get from a college degree and then the economic hardship they faced afterward. It was intriguing too to read their unionizing efforts.
I wanted more from this book in terms of how we got here though, to this issue of young college graduates struggling to get jobs in their fields. Scheiber mentions trends like the alarming proliferation of AI use and companies using AI and then laying off workers; he also writes about different political factions’ receptivity to unions. But I desired a bit more analysis about the deeper roots behind why college educated folks are struggling to find relevant jobs. I think it also would’ve been relevant to know more about Scheiber’s positionality, though maybe that’s more of a research methods-based wish than a journalistic one. Anyway, rounding up to four stars because this was a pleasant read on the sentence-level and I felt Scheiber took his interviewees’ lives seriously.
Read
March 15, 2026This won't let me rate it because it's pre-publication but I'll give it a 4 out of 5. The phenomenon the book describes is real: over-educated people in traditionally exploited jobs, living in an economy that doesn't work for them, and radicalized by the experience enough to fight. I sort of wish it explored that aspect of how we got here, but the book was more interested in close-up reporting of the labor struggles of people at Starbucks, Apple stores, universities, writer's rooms, etc. And it works on those terms.
April 16, 2026
Scheiber has a really weird tone in this, mainly in that he seems incredulous that college graduates aren't able to get better jobs than say working at Starbucks, and that they're choosing to unionize their workplaces. Well surprise dude, the economy fucking sucks, and we're all getting taken advantage of, may as well group up and try to protect yourselves from exploitation that way. We get pictures of various college graduates and the workplaces they end up trying to unionize, and where they're at in the process. He also focuses in on the unionized Starbucks that's about a half mile away from me and the various ways the company has tried to fuck with it in the last half decade or so. Recommended read.
May 16, 2026
Meh, this book was ok. I guess I went into it thinking it would be different than what it was. Especially as someone who works in the higher education industry, I was hoping it would speak to the economy and why people aren’t getting jobs with degrees, and ultimately what was preventing that. Mostly, the book focused on corporate greed and the resulting unions that spawned from that (I.e. Apple and Starbucks). I think it was cool to hear about, but definitely not why I picked up the book in the first place. For a while there I was just kinda bored.
April 18, 2026
Good book, but not what I thought it'd be based on the title. I was expecting to hear more about different movements folks with college degrees are involved in. Rather, this is a snapshot in time of the early 2020's looking at several different labor movements such as Starbucks, Apple, Amazon, and UAW. The book does detail how college students/grads who are largely under employed and/or underpaid are the change makers behind these movements. Anyone who would like to hear about the labor movement in the early 2020's would enjoy this book.
May 18, 2026
Hmmm 🤔
May 21, 2026
This is a great book, but I feel like the title and the way it was marketed are extremely misleading. I give pretty much every good book 5 stars, but I’m giving this one three. Why? Well, reading that title, you’d think there’d be a focus on the college-educated working class. It’s right there in the title. Overall, this book barely touches on any of the people being college educated.
I’m a millennial, and we were sold the idea that if you go to college, rack up 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, you’d get a good job that would not only pay off your loans, but you’d live the American dream. More and more people are discovering that’s far from the truth. I thought this book would focus on that, but it’s not even close to touching on that topic.
Again, this is a great book, but it’s about workers unionizing. It’s extremely well-written, and I learned a lot, but it just felt like it was a bait and switch. The book focuses on companies like Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks, and some people who worked on the unionizing efforts. It also has some focus on the Writers’ Guild union strikes that happened in recent years.
It’s an awesome book about how these huge companies screw their employees, but it has little to nothing to do with the massive issues with getting a college degree in recent years. I have to give this book 3 stars.
I’m a millennial, and we were sold the idea that if you go to college, rack up 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, you’d get a good job that would not only pay off your loans, but you’d live the American dream. More and more people are discovering that’s far from the truth. I thought this book would focus on that, but it’s not even close to touching on that topic.
Again, this is a great book, but it’s about workers unionizing. It’s extremely well-written, and I learned a lot, but it just felt like it was a bait and switch. The book focuses on companies like Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks, and some people who worked on the unionizing efforts. It also has some focus on the Writers’ Guild union strikes that happened in recent years.
It’s an awesome book about how these huge companies screw their employees, but it has little to nothing to do with the massive issues with getting a college degree in recent years. I have to give this book 3 stars.
June 4, 2026
Por fin!!!!!!!!!
June 15, 2026
So interesting, so well written, a great overview of democratic socialism in both a historic and modern lens. One of the best pieces I’ve read about the importance of socialism in the current political milieu. Honestly made me feel optimistic which is in stark contrast with most books like this which tend to send me into a doom spiral.
April 30, 2026
The title is misleading- this is about labor movements (the UAW, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon) around 2020. If you're looking for a largely anecdotal history of this concentrated movement in this particular period, great. I was looking for an analysis of the rise and revolt of the college-educated working class 🤷♀️
Read
May 9, 2026To be fair I went into this with the wrong expectation. The book looks at covid era/post-covid labor movements at companies like Starbucks and Apple, but watching Scheiber on Breaking Points (where the book first fell on my radar) I was under the impression that it would also be taking a deep dive into what’s going on with the job market for the college educated, but not-yet-established workforce and have a larger scope than just unions on how that job market is being navigated by these grads. For the former the book doesn’t deliver at all, and for the latter it doesn’t deliver in any meaningful way.
The employees/organizers he chose to profile could have come from episodes of Portlandia; it’s fine if someone wants to live off the grid in Vermont, baking sourdough and doing adult drama club, but it’s not convincing that external factors are holding back this person more than internal ones.
The profiles also include a large emphasis on racial/gender identity and sexual orientation. It’s not totally left field, identity politics played a major role in these recent labor movements (the book took for granted that this was a positive), but it often read like something that would have been tapped into social discourse in 2021, but already feels tired and dated a half decade later.
Service industry and retail jobs are shitty. The working environments at Starbucks and Apple described in the book sound pretty standard, if not a bit better for jobs in these industries. Of course being part of a multibillion dollar company gives the Starbucks workers something to go after that baristas at a local cafe can’t.
By the time Mutiny was discussing the UAW it was pretty clear it wasn’t the book I was hoping for, but now knowing that it was looking at the recent history of established labor unions, I was anticipating progressive commentary on the Teamster president speaking at the RNC. Interestingly there was no mention of the teamsters in the whole book and the relationship between the Trump administration and labor unions was an afterthought (literally not discussed until the epilogue).
Overall Mutiny is a snapshot of labor movements at a very specific time. The big picture circumstances that lead to the organizing, and the future of these unions didn’t seem like a real concern for the book.
The employees/organizers he chose to profile could have come from episodes of Portlandia; it’s fine if someone wants to live off the grid in Vermont, baking sourdough and doing adult drama club, but it’s not convincing that external factors are holding back this person more than internal ones.
The profiles also include a large emphasis on racial/gender identity and sexual orientation. It’s not totally left field, identity politics played a major role in these recent labor movements (the book took for granted that this was a positive), but it often read like something that would have been tapped into social discourse in 2021, but already feels tired and dated a half decade later.
Service industry and retail jobs are shitty. The working environments at Starbucks and Apple described in the book sound pretty standard, if not a bit better for jobs in these industries. Of course being part of a multibillion dollar company gives the Starbucks workers something to go after that baristas at a local cafe can’t.
By the time Mutiny was discussing the UAW it was pretty clear it wasn’t the book I was hoping for, but now knowing that it was looking at the recent history of established labor unions, I was anticipating progressive commentary on the Teamster president speaking at the RNC. Interestingly there was no mention of the teamsters in the whole book and the relationship between the Trump administration and labor unions was an afterthought (literally not discussed until the epilogue).
Overall Mutiny is a snapshot of labor movements at a very specific time. The big picture circumstances that lead to the organizing, and the future of these unions didn’t seem like a real concern for the book.
May 13, 2026
4.5 stars, but I'm willing to round up.
This is a book about, well, what the title says. (Well, sometimes it strays into other areas). Scheiber notes how the labor movement has become percolating in unexpected areas, with unexpected people. You have unionization efforts at Starbucks, at Apple, at Amazon, and video game companies, among other places. People are either college educated jobs you wouldn't expect to unionize (the video game workers, for example), or are workers you wouldn't expect to be college-educated (Starbucks, for instance). But there's a rising anger at the economy in general where money flows uphill and opportunity declines for the rest.
Scheiber spends most of his time with the Apple and Starbucks workers, though he goes other places. He spends time noting a new wave of worker agitation in the UAW. That's a little off his focus of college-educated, but he notes how the UAW has actually unionized at universities, and those members proved vital in helping a reformer take the top seat at the UAW table. (That said, it's still off the book's title as the large majority are still traditional union members).
It's mostly a series of stories rather than any in-depth analysis.
I do wonder about some parts of the book. Near the end he gives evidence that the divide between college-educated and non-college educated workers is shriking. Is that just cherrypicking data points (My hunch is yeah, frankly). Some of the cultural issues spurring unionization - such as the Gaza war, surely helped some unionization efforts but also limit the appeal of a broader-based movement. (I really don't think the public as a whole is nearly as upset at Gaza as the average Starbucks worker).
Gotta admit, writing this review is making me re-think if I should give this 5 or 4 stars. But I did appreciate it quite a bit while reading. There are unionization effort popping up in unlikely places and this does a good job cataloguing a lot of them.
This is a book about, well, what the title says. (Well, sometimes it strays into other areas). Scheiber notes how the labor movement has become percolating in unexpected areas, with unexpected people. You have unionization efforts at Starbucks, at Apple, at Amazon, and video game companies, among other places. People are either college educated jobs you wouldn't expect to unionize (the video game workers, for example), or are workers you wouldn't expect to be college-educated (Starbucks, for instance). But there's a rising anger at the economy in general where money flows uphill and opportunity declines for the rest.
Scheiber spends most of his time with the Apple and Starbucks workers, though he goes other places. He spends time noting a new wave of worker agitation in the UAW. That's a little off his focus of college-educated, but he notes how the UAW has actually unionized at universities, and those members proved vital in helping a reformer take the top seat at the UAW table. (That said, it's still off the book's title as the large majority are still traditional union members).
It's mostly a series of stories rather than any in-depth analysis.
I do wonder about some parts of the book. Near the end he gives evidence that the divide between college-educated and non-college educated workers is shriking. Is that just cherrypicking data points (My hunch is yeah, frankly). Some of the cultural issues spurring unionization - such as the Gaza war, surely helped some unionization efforts but also limit the appeal of a broader-based movement. (I really don't think the public as a whole is nearly as upset at Gaza as the average Starbucks worker).
Gotta admit, writing this review is making me re-think if I should give this 5 or 4 stars. But I did appreciate it quite a bit while reading. There are unionization effort popping up in unlikely places and this does a good job cataloguing a lot of them.
April 8, 2026
I received an advance review copy of this book. It is a great read for anyone interested in the US economy and labor issues.
In Mutiny, Noam Scheiber delivers a gripping and deeply reported account of a generation that did everything it was told (excelled in school, earned degrees, chased opportunity, etc) only to find itself stranded in an economy that couldn’t deliver on its promises. From Starbucks picket lines to Apple Store showrooms, Scheiber traces the lives of young, college-educated workers whose expectations of stability and success collide with the realities of low pay, precarious work, and mounting debt. What emerges is a vivid portrait of a new kind of politically engaged working class.
Blending on-the-ground reporting with sharp analysis, Mutiny captures the emotional and economic forces driving a resurgence of labor activism in unexpected places. With empathy and narrative flair, Scheiber introduces readers to the people at the center of this transformation, revealing how frustration turns into organizing, and how personal disillusionment becomes collective action. Mutiny is an essential look at the shifting meaning of work, class, and power in modern America.
In Mutiny, Noam Scheiber delivers a gripping and deeply reported account of a generation that did everything it was told (excelled in school, earned degrees, chased opportunity, etc) only to find itself stranded in an economy that couldn’t deliver on its promises. From Starbucks picket lines to Apple Store showrooms, Scheiber traces the lives of young, college-educated workers whose expectations of stability and success collide with the realities of low pay, precarious work, and mounting debt. What emerges is a vivid portrait of a new kind of politically engaged working class.
Blending on-the-ground reporting with sharp analysis, Mutiny captures the emotional and economic forces driving a resurgence of labor activism in unexpected places. With empathy and narrative flair, Scheiber introduces readers to the people at the center of this transformation, revealing how frustration turns into organizing, and how personal disillusionment becomes collective action. Mutiny is an essential look at the shifting meaning of work, class, and power in modern America.
April 8, 2026
I was given an advanced copy due to being involved in the process as a worker at the Clark and Ridge Starbucks. As someone directly involved in the work and struggle discussed here, I can say that Noam masterfully articulated the experiences and challenges of the workers and organizers he spent so much time getting to know and highlighting.
This book is snapshot of our time, and a first person witness view into the current labor movement. It highlights the challenges, obstacles, and passions of a generation promised the world and given the scraps. It poses important questions and raises important points regarding the massive gap between the working class (both white and blue-collar) and the wealthy, and discusses how education no longer guarantees stability.
Our generation is building a new standard for labor in real time, a standard which will shape the future of labor and social justice for generations- one way or another. Mutiny gives a glimpse into the world of the people fighting towards this future, and gives a view of both the good and the bad.
This is the new labor movement through-and-through, and it will stand as a snapshot in time as labor justice continues to evolve and shape history.
This book is snapshot of our time, and a first person witness view into the current labor movement. It highlights the challenges, obstacles, and passions of a generation promised the world and given the scraps. It poses important questions and raises important points regarding the massive gap between the working class (both white and blue-collar) and the wealthy, and discusses how education no longer guarantees stability.
Our generation is building a new standard for labor in real time, a standard which will shape the future of labor and social justice for generations- one way or another. Mutiny gives a glimpse into the world of the people fighting towards this future, and gives a view of both the good and the bad.
This is the new labor movement through-and-through, and it will stand as a snapshot in time as labor justice continues to evolve and shape history.
April 25, 2026
A decent overview of the current labor movement and how it got here. While he does talk about a variety of unions (video games, film and tv writes, autoworkers, Amazon), it's really about two: Starbucks and Apple. These are iconic companies with worshiped former CEOs and diehard fans. He focused on the human side of the story, which isn't a bad thing. I found myself nodding my head at the anxiety Teddy and Chaya endure while trying to better themselves and their coworkers. I do wish this had more analysis instead of simple, yet engaging storytelling (partly because several story beats or character traits are repeated several times). We only get the analysis towards the end, when talking about Gaza, and the overall direction of labor. It will make you groan and shake your head at Starbucks and Apple, and, if you're a college educated person working at these kinds of places, it will make you feel a sense of solidarity.
May 25, 2026
I can see why people had frustrated reviews of this book. It would be easy to go in with expectations based on the political climate of the country and the title of this book. However, I went in with few expectations and ended up enjoying the read. It is some important, thoughtful anecdotes of people in these situations told over time and weaved together. I especially gravitated towards the Apple Store and Starbucks sections - this recent idea of "better retail" labor practices - and therefore "be happy with what you get" from the corporations. These entities recruit top-notch talent and celebrate them on entry, but then it collapses. These slightly better benefits are highly spoken of, but we know they are not that significant considering how poor the state of employment is in the US. Furhermore, these benefits lead to less turnover and more profit.
Reading about people stuck in these cycles was interesting. While being one-sided on POV, the book leaves much of the interpretation up to you. Also, being as these are actual lives in a current situation, there is no tidy "beginning to end" arc. Overall, a strong set of journalistic profiles worth anyone's time.
Reading about people stuck in these cycles was interesting. While being one-sided on POV, the book leaves much of the interpretation up to you. Also, being as these are actual lives in a current situation, there is no tidy "beginning to end" arc. Overall, a strong set of journalistic profiles worth anyone's time.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Mutiny is more of a collection of case studies than a book about the topic of college grads unionizing. While it is interesting, I really wanted more analysis than just a narration of what happened when these people worked to unionize Starbucks, Apple, and.... at least one other thing (dammit what was it?!).
EDIT: If you are Minnesotan or aware of the city of Edina, Minnesota, a warning for you! One of the individuals Scheiber follows is from Edina, and the audiobook narrator consistently pronounces it "uh-dee-na" rather than "eh-dye-na." So you will be experiencing a nails on a chalkboard sensation a few times if listening on audio haha
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
EDIT: If you are Minnesotan or aware of the city of Edina, Minnesota, a warning for you! One of the individuals Scheiber follows is from Edina, and the audiobook narrator consistently pronounces it "uh-dee-na" rather than "eh-dye-na." So you will be experiencing a nails on a chalkboard sensation a few times if listening on audio haha
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 10, 2026
Mutiny is a great book about class and labor relations in the US currently and talks about a few of the movements that have been happening in the last few years. However, it is very wrong about any issue that is not class and doesn't really do intersectionality well, broadly speaking. I have other criticism that I am scared to express. I don't expect you to get everything right, but I expect more from any author than to be systematically wrong about many things in a row. This makes me wonder if the book got a few of the things about class wrong as well- and whether it was confirmation bias that made me believe it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
May 18, 2026
This wasn't what I was expecting at all. This book's primary focus is labor movements (which, don't get me wrong, is an interesting subject) and goes into really minute detail about those. I was more interested in the workers themselves and thought this would be a "how did we get here and what is the path forward" kind of book. The author often goes back and forth between workers' stories, which made it hard to keep track of who was who. Also, I really hate that the narrator felt the need to imitate people's voices in tones I saw as disrespectful.
April 27, 2026
3.5 stars. I didn’t have any major issues with the book but found it fairly dry. There wasn’t a lot of analysis in here that was new to me, and the anecdotes were good but fairly narrow in scope. Mainly in they were largely focused on the unionization of Apple and Starbucks around 2023.
It sounds like a few other reviewers also got a different story than they expected, and perhaps it was a marketing thing. Regardless — not a bad book, just not the one I intended to read.
It sounds like a few other reviewers also got a different story than they expected, and perhaps it was a marketing thing. Regardless — not a bad book, just not the one I intended to read.
June 10, 2026
A very engaging journalistic account of workplace organizing across multiple industries that tend to employ college-educated folks who are still in the working class. Very inspiring for anyone needing a pick-me-up about what kind of organizing and change is possible in today’s work environment. The primary workplaces documented include Starbucks, Hollywood writers’ rooms, an Apple store, and higher ed.
May 28, 2026
I usually read books on macro level, but sometimes read books like this. This reminded me of a book covering workers from a factory being closed in Ohio a few years ago (American made by Farah Stockman). Seeing people's struggle is a very somber feeling.
May 11, 2026
Depressing.
June 11, 2026
Good insights to the rise of Unions lead by college graduates working in hourly jobs. The intertwining of several stories and a lot of repetition makes the reading more difficult.
June 22, 2026
I wanted to like this, but it was just too anecdotal
May 6, 2026
I had anticipated this to be more about those working primarily in jobs that aligned with their degrees. Though, some of the cast used Starbucks or Apple as a second job while they followed a career based off of their degree. It was definitely insightful into the inner workings of a unionized chainstore, and how the chain fought against people who were just trying to survive. Another heartbreaking example of unempathetic people.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews