Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich’s one of those virtuous full-immersion journalists whose work inspires more admiration than envy. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (2001), in which she recounted working within America’s hardscrabble underworld of hand-to-mouth laborers, was an eye-opening, compassionate, frequently funny, and dispiriting piece of reportage. It was also an unlikely success story, a book about class that sold more than a million copies and established its author as a celebrity. In her followup, Bait and Switch, Ehrenreich once again went undercover, this time attempting to land a mid-level job in corporate America; it is in many ways an even more depressing book. With forty-four percent of the country’s long-term unemployed coming from the white-collar ranks, Ehrenreich has zero luck in her job search, which unfortunately makes for a sort of anti-climax. Dog eat dog, not surprisingly, is a pretty ugly business all around. 810 31st St. W., Minneapolis; 612-825-3019; www.lyndaleuss.org