According to Studs Terkel, "Not only is it must reading but it's mesmeric. [It's] a stiff punch in the nose to those righteous apostles of 'welfare reform.' " He's talking about Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, the 12th book by noted journalist and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich, which was published on May 8 by Holt's Metropolitan Books imprint—and which is doing extremely well at the independents. The author, whose articles and essays have appeared in Time (she's been a contributing writer since 1990), Esquire, the Atlantic Monthly, the Nation, etc., seems to have touched a nerve with what the publisher calls "a rare view of 'prosperity' from the bottom." When two chapters from Nickel and Dimed were published in Harper's, a special section had to be created to accommodate the avalanche of letters. Her current tour, which she's about three-quarters of the way through, has been drawing enormous crowds, including some 600 fans at a May 22 Ruminator event in Minneapolis. Media coverage has been extensive and varied, and includes appearances on Oprah, Today, Politically Incorrect, The O'Reilly Factor, NPR's Weekend Edition and many more. There are 40,000 copies in print.
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
