This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation

by Barbara Ehrenreich

America in the ’aughts—hilariously skewered, brilliantly dissected, and darkly diagnosed by the bestselling social critic hailed as “the soul mate”* of Jonathan Swift Barbara Ehrenreich’s first book of satirical commentary, The Worst Years of Our Lives , about the Reagan era, was received with bestselling acclaim. The one problem was the couldn’t some prophetic fact-checker have seen that the worst years of our lives—far worse—were still to come? Here they are, the 2000s, and in This Land Is Their Land , Ehrenreich subjects them to the most biting and incisive satire of her career. Taking the measure of what we are left with after the cruelest decade in memory, Ehrenreich finds lurid extremes all around. While members of the moneyed elite can buy congressmen, many in the working class can barely buy lunch. While a wealthy minority obsessively consumes cosmetic surgery, the poor often go without health care for their children. And while the corporate C-suites are now nests of criminality, the less fortunate are fed a diet of morality, marriage, and abstinence. Ehrenreich’s antidotes are as sardonic as they are pet insurance for your kids; Salvation Army fashions for those who can no longer afford Wal-Mart; and boundless rage against those who have given us a nation scarred by deepening inequality, corroded by distrust, and shamed by its official cruelty. Full of wit and generosity, these reports from a divided nation show once again that Ehrenreich is, as Molly Ivins said, “good for the soul.” —* The Times (London)

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology, Essays, Economics, History, Social Science

235 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Barbara Ehrenreich was an American author and political activist. During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She was a widely read and award-winning columnist and essayist and the author of 21 books. Ehrenreich was best known for her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, a memoir of her three-month experiment surviving on a series of minimum-wage jobs. She was a recipient of a Lannan Literary Award and the Erasmus Prize.

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked Nickel and Dimed. It was original, clever, frightening and a total page-turner. I read it while restocking the shelves at a university bookstore, getting paid $6.50 an hour. It resonated.
But this book? What happened? Here's how I imagine it:

Publisher: we need another book from you.
Barbara: Ugh, but I'm so busy with my speaking schedule I haven't been working on anything new.
Publisher: we need it in three weeks.
Barbara: Hum, okay, I'll hobble together something from my blog, random things I've read on the internet, and spurious unfounded assumptions that will make even severely left-leaning Rebecca roll her eyes and snort.

And Voila! You have "This Land is Their Land."

Now, there could be perfectly legitimate ideas in here, and even some "truths." But how can I rely on this author when one of her points is as follows:

The rich associate the poor with fat, i.e. greasy spoon. Therefore, the rich don't eat fat, but instead eat high-carb low fat diets. Therefore they are hungry all the time. Therefore they are miserable. Therefore they try to satiate their misery with money. Which they extort from poor people.
If rich people just ate more butter, they would give up their champagne-filled jacuzzis and pay a living wage to their Dominican maids.

Gyuuuuuuuhghghshghgh the sound of my brain melting out of my ear.

Sometimes it seems like she is going for a satirical note-- like she's been gorging on Michael Moore for a couple of weeks and is imitating his funny snarky tone. But Michael Moore's books got me outraged, dubious, curious, invested, and best of all, ROTFL. This book's just got me rolfing.

Sorry Barbara! Keep up the good work!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ehrenreich has this amazing ability to look critically at social, political, education and economic policy and point out exactly where the policiy falls short of meeting its supposed goal. I think this is an important book for people to read because, even though each chapter is short and doesn't list a whole host of numbers and statistics (although she sights, of course, for your researching if you're so inclined) she really gets you think about the flip side of the current administration's policies. And while she's certainly harder on the Conservatives, she even busts on my boy Bill and other Democrats because she's not out to win an election for someone- she's out to make people think. So I would recommend this book to anyone who intends to vote in 2008, particularly if you think that the past 8 years have been decent or better. I know there are a lot of people who might ask- yeah, but does she offer solutions? And she does, in a tongue in cheek way, and I think the reason that she takes this approach is because the solutions to a lot of these problems are not complicated to figure out.Its a good sit in the bookstore and read kind of book- my favorite chapter is entitled "Children Deserve Veterinary Care, too". Check it out.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s no replacing the late, beloved pundit Molly Ivins and her ability to skewer the right with such great good humor, but Barbara Ehrenreich comes closest to filling the gap. In this collection of recent topical mini-essays, the author of the recent classic “Nickel and Dimed” targets the myriad issues our right-leaning government and corporate America use to distract us from those that could and should unite the country in righteous indignation. What should be uniting us, as Ehrenreich comes back to again and again, is the growing gap between the haves and have-nots – and how that chasm is becoming wider, the two sides even more disparate.

As the masses lose ever more ground – in real wages, in health care, in food costs, in political power – why are we not outraged? Why is there no call to arms? Why, instead, do we stand by and watch as our Congress bails out corporations instead of the customers they screwed, as Phil Gramm calls us a “nation of whiners” for even daring to mention our decreasing lot in life? We stand by because, as Ehrenreich points out repeatedly, we have to struggle just to keep our heads above water, so thoroughly have we been screwed by the aforementioned.

I’d have to agree with the New York Times’ review that Ehrenreich’s short pieces are a bit too brief – three pages on average. But she always has a pithy, spot-on dart, and it’s a true art to say what needs saying in as few words as possible.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witty and sharp, but I felt that I had read some of the essays before.

[Traci · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read her other books- I liked them, but this one, not so much. I understand her intent- to make us aware of absurd CEO salaries, unfair employment practices to increase profit, millions that do not have health insurance, etc.- and those facts and figures, and stories were stunning. I agree that these are huge problems facing the American public today. They frustrate me, and they obviously frustrate her. But, I don't want to read a whole book of horrible scenarios and only have few plausible solutions on how to fix things. If you love America, and want to be what it can be, don't just complain about it, belittle it and bring it down- offer some better solutions than the population rising up and marching on the offices of health insurance companies.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to say this, but Barbara Ehrenreich is no longer a journalist. Somewhere between "Nickel and Dimed" and this book, she crossed the line into punditry, taking a seat with Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann, no longer even holding up a pretense of objectivity. While I was intrigued by the premise of the book, which is supposed to tackle the subject of inequality in America, I found that the writing does not deliver. Instead of facts and statistics and information, I was bombarded with Barbara Ehrenreich's Holy Opinion about everything from dieting (She eats eggs, bacon and butter regularly and weighs 100 pounds, therefore the "health food" industry is big conspiracy) to religion (there is no God, because bad things happen to good people). When she does wander back to the intended subject of the book, it's hard to pay attention to the point of her arguments because they are hidden deep in what she seems to think is a humorous approach. She often takes time in her books to tells us how everyone things she is too cynical, but I always though of her as realistic- until now. She includes several supposedly tongue-in-cheek essays that just come across as bitter, such as her essay on why we should be able to purchase pet insurance for children and how the point of college is to prepare us to be in debt. I would recommended several of her other books for people interested in inequality, but definitely not this one.

[Elyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is comprised of short and witty essays and articles by the author of Nickel and Dimed, a book that I enjoyed. Barbara Ehrenreich is effective in illustrating all of the dysfunction of U.S. society, especially the struggles of the working poor and the middle class. Unfortunately, her essays sound like a series of rants with very few proposed solutions. I just don't see what good it does to talk about all that ails us and not recommend changes. As a result of reading this book, I am hyper-aware of all of this nation's problems and left with very few ideas about how to move forward.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out really liking this book--what can I say, she pulled at my tender heartstrings when she bitched about the bloated overclass--but I'm a fan of citing sources and studies...and, unfortunately, I don't think that there is one footnote or citation in this book. Boo. That's journalistic research for ya!

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Ehrenreich is the kind of writer you might know about...and know her views in general...but may not have read. That's how it was for me until the last few days when I ripped through This Land is Their Land:Reports from a Divided Nation. She is what used to be called a liberal, not a bad word in my book, and she attacks the growing wealth divide in the U.S. with ferocity, humor, cutting wit, solid facts, and chilling anecdotes.

The style of this volume is one short, snappy chapter after another. I don't know this, but I guess these chapters began as blog comments and then were built out. She takes on the financial crash, greedy CEOs, the plight of the young and old trying to find work, the way corporations like Walmart (she really skewers Walmart; don't shop there!) exploit their workers, and so forth. Can you imagine Walmart tell its aging "greeters" that they can't have stools anymore? Welcome to the world of cost-cutting at all costs. She also takes a good look at feminism, abortion, gay marriage, and the way in which the Republican party and evangelicals have woven their snake-like way together to produce a truly venomous anti-Christian Christianity. The war in Iraq? As bad as Walmart!

She doesn't say it exactly the way I like to say it, but she makes this point: There is class warfare going on in America but it's not being waged by the poor against the rich, it's being waged by the rich against the poor...and it's all but over. The poor are hardly worth bothering about. The rich are now out to squeeze the Chinese, Indians and Vietnamese. Our middle class got a flat tire in the seventies and we've been running on the rim ever since. She even points out that the wealth gap between CEOs and their number #3 executives has spread. Pity the #3s. A fellow told me last week about one of his neighbors who had a mid-to-high level job at Blue Shield/Blue Cross in North Carolina and earned $350,000 a year. He said to her, "What do you do?" She told him. He said, "Hell, I could do that." She said, "You probably could." So Ehrenreich suggests we reform the health care system by outsourcing it to the Third World. This would mean those overpaid executives would be out of work, and our fine doctors and nurses would have to practice in Mexico and Thailand, but we'd save a bundle.

I don't want to try to out-Ehrenreich Ehrenreich, but I'd like to close this note with a confession. I already knew most of what she wrote. I think that's true of a lot of thinking Americans. What's puzzling is that we understand exactly the four or five major tragedies that led to our current difficulties, and yet it's so hard to make that the dominant theme of the day. At the moment the Republicans in the House of Representatives may help us change that by shutting down the government in their effort to defund Obamacare. I don't want to see the government shut down, but if it brings the temple of greed crashing upon the right wingers' heads, let it fall.

For more of my comments on contemporary writing, see Tuppence Reviews (Kindle).

[Shinynickel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again I try to read a book of essays, and once again I am frustrated.

I think it's because I spend so much time online, and most popular essays are about the length of a really good blog post. Unlike blog posts, however, these essays lack any kind of linkage to provide context. When Ehrenreich wants to talk about something Rush Limbaugh said, I have to take her on faith. When she talks about increasing layoffs, etc, I have to take her on faith. I don't necessarily suspect her of lying, exactly. But she's an angry writer, and makes me want to get angry, too. Before I get that angry about something I want to make sure I understand what's really going on - that my anger is well-directed, that I can explain and justify this anger to others - and I realize now that it is much harder to do this when I have to go factcheck everything myself.

Shorhand: I should just keep reading blogs.

Nonetheless, this is a good collection of essays. A lot of my reading focuses on social and civil rights issues, so I'm less well-versed in discussions of the economy and the tangible outcomes of some of our economic and health care policies. Ehrenreich does a fantastic job of bringing these effects to light, of illustrating some of the personal stories and hardship that these policies have created. And it's a fast read.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those readers familiar with Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed” and “Bait and Switch”, Ehrenreich offers a different type book here. Rather than inserting herself into a typical working-class existence, through a series of essays she examines the current state of America and what it means for the average American. From corporate irresponsibility to prisoner abuse, Ehrenreich intensely scrutinizes the duplicity of American politics and culture. Much of what she has to say, in my humble opinion, is right on target. For instance, in regards to the role that religion and spirituality currently plays in our current political culture she says, “…what both parties need to understand is that economic issues are moral issues. Poverty is a moral issue; 47 million Americans without health insurance is a moral issue. The same goes for the environment: why fight to save a fertilized egg cell for a life spent gasping for air or fleeing the ever-rising coastlines? If you’re going to be prolife, you’ve got to be proenvironment and pro-economic justice.”

I found Ehrenreich’s viewpoints to be enlightening and her writing style terribly amusing. At times, however, her sarcasm was a little over the top and might prevent reader’s who disagree with her points to discount her arguments entirely.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

When this book came out, it was most likely sometime in 2008 before the market hit the wall and all the big banks and other associated financial companies needed their now-famous bailout from the federal government. However, that doesn't mean that things weren't bad for everyone else beforehand, and this book is an attempt at documenting that.

The main point that Ehrenreich makes in her effort is that the preceding years have been hard, especially for those who are not CEOs of major corporations or a part of the now, thanks to the Occupy movement, famously labelled "1%".

She goes on to produce a sort of "survey" of all the various areas that have simply gotten worse for the vast majority of Americans, documenting specific aspects of it and how they work. She covers things like:

- CEO pay vs. that of everyone else (out of proportion)
- People blaming everyone else other than themselves for lots of things
- How the middle class is being erased via debt and other means
- The way in which corporations are raising profits at the expense of their employees
- Major issues and problems with our health care system
- The schizophrenic obsession we have with sex and sexuality in this nation
- Mass delusion, in the forms of motivational movements and how faith is delivered

Each "story" she includes is short, a few pages at most, where she'll look at some specific issue or problem that falls under the heading of one of her themes. In it, she'll often take a satiric note, going on in this vein for a while before letting her cover slip and getting serious about what the problem is and how it can be fixed.

Ehrenreich also goes on, in many of these stories, to expose the blatant hypocrisy that exists in many areas of American society, such as our outrage over child labor, only to then compare it to how we are more than willing to take kids and try them in court as adults.

"If we could only get over our hypothetical qualms, the support for child labor would be enormous. After all, more and more American children are tried and punished as adults today.... The core of the argument, though, is that anyone who opposes child labor has not witnessed its opposite, which is child unemployment and idleness. Think of it: 99 percent of child criminals are unemployed, as are 99 percent of obese children and schoolyard bullies. The remaining 1 percent are actors, meaning they spend their time simulating unemployed children."

The main point here is this: if we as a society get so outraged over children being used for cheap labor in third world countries, then why are we not also outraged (to the point of starting movements and boycotts and the like) when children are tried as adults for crimes they commit, especially when the science has been in (and for a while now) that children do not have the same mental faculties as adults do?

The bigger thread, though, in this (and other stories) is that we're using double standards with regards to some issue in our contemporary culture and landscape simply because for many of us, it is too inconvenient to do so otherwise. Blame immigrants for our problems, but no, I don't want to pay $10 for a salad. Corporate CEOs are evil, but no, don't let their employees fight their own fight democratically via unions so they can get their employer to hear their grievances, which basically puts them at their mercy. Our soldiers are great and wonderful and beloved in our country - so much so that we pay an entry level enlisted soldier about the same as a crossing guard, or a second lieutenant less than a pest control worker (and yes, while they get benefits such as food and housing allowances, if you're on the front line, more often than not you have to purchase supplemental gear such as extra armor just to make do on a day-to-day basis. Oh, and military disability payments are deducted from their retirement pay, among other injustices).

To be fair, there is an obvious slant to a lot of Ehrenreich's writing in this: she might be what many would otherwise call a liberal hippie (or something similar), but the truth of the matter is that a lot of the issues she points out are hard truths that many of us have had to face, especially in the wake of the Great Recession and everything that's happened since then. She often advocates in her stories that things might and could be better if things were more left-leaning in many of the areas, arguing that going in the other direction (as the country has for the past eight years before it was published) hasn't done much good for a good majority of Americans. But she doesn't just suggest this, she also offers some pretty solid common-sense reasons as to why it might be a better idea to do so.

The only problem I have with it is that, unlike other books of hers that I've read, this one tries to cover too much in too short a time - but like I said, it is more of a survey book than anything else. Unlike in Bright Sided, where she really drills down deep into the subject with her research, here it is much more like a stone skipping across a pond. However, it is still pretty useful in that it can yield some rather startling facts (soldiers needing food stamps? WTF?). She also names her sources in her stories so you can follow up, so you can look up the sources yourself with a bit of legwork.

[Sid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sometimes funny but often bitter rant about American society, government and lifestyle. I'd urge Barbara to actually live in other countries before she starts to expound on the shortcomings of our nation. At times the book felt like political propaganda for the Democrats. Overall, it's an entertaining book and like anything else I recommend consuming it with a grain of salt.

[Kkraemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Ehrenreich has long been a voice for those who are working so hard that they don't have time to raise their voice...at least to anyone who can help them. In this book, copyrighted in 2008 before the big crash, she includes many poignant chapters, the most interesting of which is titled "Can You Afford to Be Poor?"
In this chapter, she notes that there is a "ghetto two," a higher cost of living for low-income neighborhoods. This includes higher property tax rates (the basis for school funding in many states), higher food costs (to make up for theft), higher insurance rates (ditto), and higher costs for borrowing (your rate is based on your credit rating, part of which is based on your income. If your income is lower, your rate for borrowing will be higher). Add to that the cost of trying to get into rental housing (first, last, and a month's rent), compared with the cost of living in a motel...or saving for furniture or a car or appliances as opposed to getting things from rent-to-own, a dealer-based auto loan, or higher-cost appliances loans, and you can see that life on the lower side of the income ladder is a bit more dicey.
The astonishing thing about this book, though, is that it was written BEFORE current times. It was written back in what seems now the flower-strewn fields of green that were the Bush days. In it, she talks about healthcare, low-paying employment, life at the office, and the loss of the middle class. While the book seems like a series of rants, they're tame compared to what would be written today.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of articles by Barbara Ehrenreich (of Nickel and Dimed fame), mostly dealing with the class divide in America and other related issues. To me this was a quick but refreshing read, reminding me why I'm a lifelong lefty, and articulating my beliefs much clearer than I could.

Here were some of the highlights for me...

- "Private health insurance is only for people who aren't likely ever to get sick. In fact, why call it 'insurance,' which normally embodies the notion of risk sharing? This is extortion."

- "What is this fixation on growth anyway?... the 'cult of growth' has lead to global warming, ghastly levels of pollution, and diminishing resources. Tumors grow, at least until they kill their hosts; economies ought to be sustainable."

- "If anyone is ruining the American family, it's all the employers who refuse to recognize that their employees have family responsibilities as well as jobs... those who don't pay enough for their employees to live on... and those who abuse their salaried employees with expectations of ten or more hours of work per day."

- "Show me the passage in the Bible that bans stem cell research. See if you can find the tiniest allusion to abortion. Yes, there's homophobia in the Bible, along with endorsements of slavery and a weird obsession with animal sacrifice. Not a word, it should be mentioned, about gay marriage... Poverty and injustice, on the other hand, get over three thousand hits."

- (From a really powerful essay about Barbara's reaction to seeing pictures of female soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and having to rethink her approach to feminism): "To cite an old and far from naive feminist saying: 'If you think equality is the goal, your standards are too low.' It is not enough to be equal to men, when the men are acting like beasts. It is not enough to assimilate. We need to create a world worth assimilating into."

[Chazzle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm cashing in my "political capital" and reviewing this book, even though I didn't read more than two thirds of the essays.

The book could have been titled The Audacity of Hope - NOT!!!. Perhaps you saw the movie Happyness, starring Will Smith, in which he couldn't catch a break in life for an unremitting two hours of torture at the theater. That movie's mood captures that despair of the essays in this book.

On the other hand, Ehrenreich makes some interesting points. I really liked the essay called "Who moved my ability to reason?", which spoofs the business/leadership title "Who Moved my Cheese?" Her point is that these simple-Simon business titles really deserve to thrown into the proverbial Bonfire of Pathetic Literature, along with the complete works of Eckhart Tolle, Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series, and Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. (As an aside, my favorite bookstore moved the stacks containing business titles, so I could ask the staff there, "Who moved my 'Who moved my cheese'?") Also, the essays on women's issues were an eye-opener for me; especially piquant was the essay discussing women's involvement in troop torture, from Rice to Karpinski to England et al. So much for "sugar and spice..."

At the end of the day, though, if I can't bear the thought of reading another 60+ pages, I can't give it an average three-star rating. My honest recommendation is to read a few of the essays at the bookstore for free, esp. the ones I praised, of course.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehrenreich skewers the way that we look at America and it's culture. She points out the hypocrisies of our modern life. This is not a comfortable book to read but it would be a fabulous book for discussion. Since it was published in 2008 the president who gets the blame is W. I will have to look up her website to see what she thinks of our current one.

Why I started it: I needed a nonfiction book to clear my palate after the last teen novel that I listened to.

Why I finished it: This was a collection of previously published essays and so it was very easy to break into short listening chunks. (Perfect for waiting in line or commuting.)

I would recommend Ehrenreich's other book Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America because some of the essays here are covered in more depth in there. And it is a good wake-up call. And I agree, positive thinking without actual physical effort is pointless... the whole faith without works.

[Xysea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a quick read. It's a series of short, political essays by Barbara Ehrenreich. I've read most of her books so far, and yes, she's a liberal. A bleeding heart, healthcare for all, died in the wool liberal. So, if liberalism isn't your cup of tea, skip this one. Your high blood pressure will thank you.

Now, I'm going to veer off on a little tangent for a moment. You know, it's funny, I never see conservatives reading liberal-leaning political books, but I do see liberals reading conservative-leaning political books if only to mock them mercilessly and take them apart. At least liberals try to know what conservatives are thinking,

[Joe Robles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book about what's wrong with our country. Ehrenriech doesn't just write about what's wrong, but if you've read her previous books then you know she also lives it. Before Spurlock did 30 days Ehrenriech was working for minimum wage and trying to see if it was possible to actually survive on that (spoiler alert: you can't).

This book touches on several subjects including corporate greed, religion, gay marriage, and immigration. Her prose is biting and funny. She may be a grandma, but she's got the snark of a Jon Stewart. If you love the Daily Show and Colbert Report then this book's for you.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really just a compilation of columns and short articles Ehrenreich has written for other publications collected together under topics such as the economy, politics, healthcare, and religion. Although I agree with a lot of her points, I don't agree with everything. But that's okay because it's always nice to get another viewpoint on things. A lot of the essays made me angry about things that have happened and are happening in this country and how we treat many of our citizens. It is not nearly as profound as Nickel and Dimed, but it's a good quick read.

[Kyle Bohman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't care much for this piece of literature. I was expecting another Nickel and Dimed, and this wasn't it. Each 3 page chapter just regurgitated facts that you could find on the internet about corruption in American. There was no story. I found it very difficult to make it through the chapters.

[Dennis Littrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kicks butt

Verbally speaking.

I'm jealous. I like to think that I can write hot, sharp prose that singes the footsies of the miscreants on the Right; but I can't hold a candle to Barbara Ehrenreich (so to speak), nor can most journalists/social critics working in America today. Take one part suffragette tea, stir in some leftover Wobbly stew, add a dash of farm worker's jalapeno pepper, some heartland hardtack, garnish with some Lesbo Island fig chutney and serve with a mason jar of limousine liberal Chablis and you've got a fair approximation of the kind of dish Ms. Ehrenreich is.

Here she is on the political tactics of Republican Christians:

"Distraction was the means to get people to vote against their own economic self-interest--that is, for tax cuts for the rich, cuts in social programs for everyone else, and endless war. The real threats to well-being, people were told, are abortionists, stem cell researchers, and matrimonially minded gays…All the guy in the pulpit had to say was 'vote pro-life' or 'save the family from marauding gays,' and the message got through: vote Republican, which translated into feed the fat cats straight from your wallet." (pp. 225-226)

And here she is rallying the feminist troops:

"…[W]e need a kind of feminism that aims not just to assimilate into the institutions that men have created over the centuries but to infiltrate and transform them.

"To cite an old and far from naïve feminist saying: 'If you think equality is the goal, your standards are too low.' It is not enough to be equal to men, when the men are acting like beasts. It is not enough to assimilate. We need to create a world worth assimilating into." (p. 196)

Ehrenreich believes that health care costs are sucking the blood out of the economy. She writes:

"Most countries are proud to have a health care system. It's an organized way of helping the sick and infirm--a mark of genuine civilization. Not so here, alas, where the health system is rapidly becoming a health hazard. After decades of privatizing, profiteering, and insurance company-driven bureaucratization, Florence Nightingale has morphed into Vampira." (p. 167)

Ehrenreich is worried about the "Invasion of the Cheerleaders": "The New York Times reports that drug companies are increasingly hiring college cheerleaders as their sales reps--to the point where there is a 'recruiting pipeline' from college cheerleading squads direct to Big Pharma's sales force. One attraction of cheerleaders is simply that they're attractive, and doctors are still about 75 percent male." She asks, "Will that potentially hazardous, $300-a-month prescription drug actually help you, or was your doctor just charmed by a cheerleader's dazzling, gloss-enhanced smile?" (pp. 123-124)

Noting that economic growth has not in recent years translated into higher real income for American families, Ehrenreich writes:

"The soothsayers have slaughtered the ox and are examining the gloppy entrails for signs: rising unemployment, a falling dollar, weak consumer spending, the credit crisis, a swooning stock market. Could there be something wrong here? Could we actually be approaching a, God forbid, recession?" (p. 94) She adds, "As Bill McKibben argues in his book Deep Economy, the 'cult of growth' has led to global warming, ghastly levels of pollution, and diminishing resources. Tumors grow, at least until they kill their hosts; economies ought to be sustainable." (p. 97)

(I would ask, is capitalism a ponzi scheme on the future?)

I think Ehrenreich is at her best when she rushes, populist banner held high, into America's ongoing class warfare:

"I'm not upset by the $210 million dollar parachute CEO Robert Nardelli received as a send-off from Home Depot. Not at all. To those critics who see it as one more step in the slide from free-market capitalism to a gluttonous free-for-all, I say: What do you really know about Nardelli's circumstances? Maybe he has a dozen high-maintenance ex-trophy wives to support, each with a brood of special-needs offspring. Ever think of what that would cost?

"Or he may have a rare disease that can be held at bay only by daily infusions of minced fresh gorilla liver. Just try purchasing a gorilla a day for purposes of personal consumption--or any other endangered species, for that matter. There are the poachers to pay, the smugglers, the doctors and vets. I'm just saying: Don't start envisioning offshore bank accounts and 50,000-square-foot fourth homes until you know the whole story." (p. 17)

The book is a collection of short pieces arranged under seven sections entitled, "Chasms of Inequality," "Meanness on the Rise," "Strangling the Middle Class," "Hell Day at Work," "Declining Health," "Getting Sex Straight," and "False Gods." Versions of some of these pieces originally appeared in publications like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Progressive, and The Nation. I suspect some of the others are from her blog on the Internet, but I didn't check. I still like to read from the pages of a book instead of from a computer screen. It's handier. And besides I can't stand lying in bed with a laptop on my chest. Maybe Amazon will send me a Kindle.

--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Ehrenreich is the Michael Moore of print journalism. She tells it like it is, using statistics and facts accompanied by her always present wit. Whether it's gay marriage, abortion, low-wages or lack of health care, Ehrenreich will leave you educated and enraged.

[Kent Winward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having written a newspaper column, I'm aware of the constrictions of the genre and Ehrenreich is subject to those in this compiliation. I'm also aware of the pleasures of the genre -- namely you get to rant, which can be a lot of fun and Ehrenreich knows how to rant.

[Thom Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthology of columns. Appropriately sassy, but repetitive format.

[Lukasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bardzo ciekawa książka. Autorka porusza w niej sporo tematów dotyczących sprawiedliwości społecznej w Stanach Zjednoczonych, a może raczej powinienem powiedzieć, braku sprawiedliwości społecznej w społeczeństwie amerykańskim.

Często Stany Zjednoczone kojarzone są z tak zwanym „Amerykańskim Snem”. Jednak rzeczywistość opisana w tej książce dalego odbiega od tego stereotypu. Autorka właśnie przez tą książke stara soę obalić ten stereotyp.

Społeczeństwo amerykańskie jest pełne kontrastów. Z jednej strony mamy bogaczy, milionerów, prezesów, menadzerów, gwiazdy show biynesu które zgarniają miliony, z drugiej strony mamy całą armię imigrantów, przeciętnych ludzi, którzy ledwo wiążą koniec z końcem. Najmniej zasobna warstwa społeczna w Stanach Zjednoczonych konfrontowana jest z roku na rok z coraz to większymi przeciwnościami losu. Szstem wręcz pogrąża ją w coraz to większej biedzie. Na przykład ludzie, którzy ledwno wiązą koniec z końcem mogą zapomnieć o łatwo dostępnym mieszkaniu. Zdarza się, iż skazani są na wynajmowanie pokojów motelowych, co w efekcie kosztuje więcej niż wynajmowanie skromnego mieszkania. Wynajęcie mieszkania powiązane jest z wpłatą kaucji, czy też posiadaniem stałego, w miarę przyzwoicie płatnego wynagrodzenia, czego najmniej zasobni mieszkańcy nie mają. Nikt nie chce im wynajmować mieszkań, dlatego muszą przepłacać za wynajmowanie pokoju w motelu. Podobnie jest z opieką zdrowotną. Amerykanie nie posiadający ubezpieczenia zdrowotnego płacą więcej za usługi medyczne niż ci co posiadają ubezpieczenie. Marża szpitala jest większa dla pacjenta nieubezpieczenogeo. Ci co posiadają ubezpieczenie zdrowotne muszą stale liczyć się z tym, że ich firma ubezpieczeniowa odmówi im zwrotu kosztów leczenia. „Pre-existing condition” --- to chyba najgorsza diagnoza medyczna jaka może spotkać Amerykanina która ma doczynienia ze służbą zdrowia i systemem ubezpieczeń zdrowotnych.

Książka nie do końca jest aktualna. Wydana i napisana została zanim Obama został prezydentem i w znacznym stopniu zreformował system finansowania opieki zdrowotnej. Dziś procent ubezpieczonych obywateli w niektórych stanach, na przykład Massachusets osiągnął poziom 98%. To jest bardzo wysoki poziom w porównaniu jaki miał miejsce w okresie kiedy autorka pisała książkę. Także w przypadku problematyki opieki zdrowotnej stan rzeczy się zmienij w porówaniu do tego co opisuje autorka w książce. Niemniej jednak, Donald Trump próbuje odwrócic reformy Baracka Obamy i ta książka właśnie pomaga zrozumieć jak szkodliwa dla milionów Amerykanów jest polityka prowadzona przez Donalda Trumpa.

Ponieważ trochę z własnego doświadczenia wiem jak wygląda życie w Stanach Zjednoczonych książka nie do końca mnie zaskoczyła. W tym kraju bardzo łatwo można znaleźć się na marginesie społecznym i to z dnia na dzień. Autorka mocno właśnie podkreśla to jak miliony mieszkańców USA spychanych jest na margines społeczny. Pewne procesy stały się dla mnie dzięki tej książce jaśniejsze. Myślę, że to jest też dobra książka aby ostrzec nas przed szkodliwą polityką uprawianą przez niektórych populistów, którzy widzą łatwe rozwiązania dla trudnych problemów. Niestety forsowanie rozwiązań przez niektórych populistycznych polityków europejskich może mieć odwrotny skutek od ich rzekomych intencji. Rozmontowywanie europejskiego dorobku i rzekomo wprowadzanie nowych rozwiązań systemowych może doprowadzić w dłuższej perspektywie czasu do wielkiego chaosu w Europie. Problem w tym, że ci co głosują na populistów w pierwszej kolejności spychani są na margines i sami na koniec najbardziej cierpią, poziom ich frustracji stale wzrasta i łatwo im widzieć kozła ofiarnego w postaci imigrantów lub też innych mniejszości, niż w szkodliwej działalności polityków na których głosują. To co jest właśnie bardzo wartościowe w tej książce to opis ważnych schematów systemowych, które prowadzi do podziałów ekonomicznych w społeczeństwie. Nie trzeba być marksistą czy komunistą ani lewicowcem aby o tym otwarcie mówić. Wystarczy po prostu zdrowy rozsądek i trzeźwe patrzenie na sytuację.

[Andrew Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to say right up front: This is probably not a book you should read.
Wait, let me revise that: This is not a book you should read if you haven't read any other books by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Also: This is not a "book." It's a collection of essays.
Funny story: I didn't know that when I started reading it. Having read many other Ehrenreich books, I was more than a little thrown by how disjointed this seemed... until I realized that it was a collection of essays, then it made sense.

The other drawback is that the book is 10 years old, and there are moments when that is readily apparent. Beyond the fact that she's talking about the Bush presidency, that is. There are some things that have dropped out of the national consciousness since the book was published, which can leave you wondering why that was even something being talked about at the time. Like the attack on Cabbage Patch dolls back in the 80s by Right-wing nutjobs. Not that that is in the book, but it's one of those things that, when you look back at it, it leaves you scratching your head "why?!?!"

That said, this book still has a point to make, and it's a point that needs to be made again and again until people realize they need to do something about it rather than wait for someone else to fix it for them. Especially since the someone they are hoping will fix the problem are the very ones who are the problem: the 1%.

Unfortunately, the book will also highlight for you many of the ways we are regressing back to all of the places we were 10 years ago. Like, say, health care. Which got better for a brief period with Obamacare but, which, now, is being killed slowly by Trump (#fakepresident) and his goons. Or, say, banks...

Look, "we" put Dodd-Frank in place to prevent banks from doing things like they did that caused the economic collapse a decade ago. You do remember that, right? It was so bad that people were just walking away from their homes. You haven't forgotten, have you? The answer, or part of it, was Dodd-Frank. Of course, the 1% want to be able to bleed everyone else for as much as they can get, and they don't much like regulations which protect the consumer so, again, Trump (#fakepresident) and his Republican death machine have undone much of what was put in place to protect everyone else.

Actually, when you look at what happened there with the banks, it's like they were merely put in a time out. They had a club they were beating on people with and had it taken away from them and told to go sit in the corner. All the Republicans went to go play in the corner with the banks until they could maneuver the club around to someone who would give it back to the banks. It's all really rather sickening and the sheep who make up the people who vote for Republicans and who can't see beyond the dog-whistle words of "abortion" and "guns" will contentedly continue to gnaw off their own legs rather then open their eyes and look at what's being done to them by people like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnel, and the ever-blazing Trumpster fire who thinks he's a president.

Yeah, okay, none of that last paragraph was in the book, because it was written more than a decade ago, but there are sections of the book that really resonate with what's happening right now, especially since Dodd-Frank is being dismantled right now, so you can see the return to the things she's talking about in the book.

Anyway... If you've read other Ehrenreich books and enjoyed them, you'll probably find this a good read. Besides, it's quick, especially if you read it as bites of essays here and there. If you haven't read Ehrenreich, go get a copy of Nickel and Dimed or Bright-sided and start with that.

[Mona Ammon · Rating 5 out of 5]

TITLE: This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation
WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: It fit in my reading challenge being connected to the book before it, On Tyranny, by being of the same format, essays
REVIEW: This author also wrote Nickle and Dimed which I have heard a lot about but had not read. I liked This Land is Their Land so much I am definitely going to read Nickel and Dimed very soon. It was brutally funny. Using hyperbole and bringing faulty points of view to their extreme conclusions she points on the lack of logic and hypocrisy of some points of view. I grew up poor and don't hold people's economic status, past or present against someone. However, reading this book made me realize how how subconsciously there are times when I blame the victim for their circumstances. It is not to say an individual has no role and cannot have any impact on their circumstances but there are a whole host of reasons beyond people's control. This book also makes clear the ways in which the 1% (my term) manipulate the emotions of the working class to deflect them from displaying unhappiness upward. The way they present workers with false choices. Either you get to have "a job" or you get worker's rights, but anything we give you will only jeopardize our ability to continue to give you a job. Quote from the book "..... the same arguments Americans hear whenever they raise a timid plea for a higher minimum wage, or a halt to the steady erosion of pensions and health benefits. What scream the economists who flack for the employing class, 'If you do anything, anything at all, to offend or discomfit the employers they will respond by churlishly failing to employee you.'" The point how the Bible is used to distract workers from economic issues by bringing up social issues. Even though, as she points out, many of the topics the right wing flogs get no or small mention in the Bible but poverty and economic justice which are mentioned hundreds of times are not talked about the right wing. In fact, instead, those in poverty are often blamed for their circumstances and it stated as a moral failing. This is a very eye opening book. She mentions a lot of other books that I plan to read as well. Even though this was a book of essays it was better researched than a Glen Beck or Bill O'Reilly book.

[CTEP]

I've found books from Barbara Ehrenreich to be somewhere on the spectrum of brilliant (Nickel And Dimed) to just flat out depressing (Bait and Switch); This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation fell in the intersection between the two groups. The chapters are short essays on a variety of topics, from poverty to immigration to educational policy to unemployment. Ehrenreich's research into the subjects and her subsequent analysis provides intriguing conclusions for the reader to evaluate.

The book was an extremely interesting read- I had to wait for several months to get it from my library and then had to fight my housemates for possession of the book. I would recommend these readings to anyone interested in (a sometimes political) analysis of effects of policy on real people in the US over the last ten years.

[Agnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I asked myself if I really wanted to read essays that are almost 20 years old
and finally I said "self, it's Barbara Ehrenreich, you know they'll be good!"

It was fascinating reading Bush era diatribes. She talks about health insurance & immigrants & walmart & stagnant wages & useless expensive degrees, all relevant.

I didn't know about recruiting cheerleaders as drug reps or Genetech, one of the best companies to work for: except if you work in their kitchen.

She was so funny ! pg 141- someone coined the phrase "worsism" "maybe it was me" LOL!

She was witty & articulate and knew what it was like to live on a small income.

No one will ever take her place, I was so sad when she passed and this book just made me miss her more.