Quart, editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, deep dives into the struggle of ordinary families whose middle-class American dream is frustratingly out of reach. Pregnancy discrimination, childcare that can cost more than college, crippling student loan debt, limitations on midlife career makeovers, and robots replacing humans are just some of the barriers to job stability and financial solvency she covers. Quart understands and communicates well about the myriad, complex, situations that prevent many contemporary families from achieving a standard of living comparable to that of their parents. Her profiles include the "hyper-educated poor," adjunct professors who live in poverty, barely making a living wage; "extreme day care," which can include 24-hour childcare for parents with harsh and erratic work schedules; and impoverished immigrant nannies, who are underemployed and often separated from their own families while caring for their employers' children. Quart details sound policy-related solutions-an adjunct rights movement; free preschool; welfare-type assistance for elder care and childcare; an end to federal funding for sketchy, for-profit schools; and universal basic income. Her ambitious, top-tier reportage tells a powerful story of America today. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Blending personal accounts with data, Quart (executive editor, Economic Hardship Reporting Project) exposes the overwhelming economic, emotional, and social hardships faced by U.S. middle-class families. Among the problems affecting the status of the "middle precariat" (including highly educated professionals who theoretically should be more economically secure) are gender bias, pregnancy/motherhood discrimination, disdain for care workers, exorbitant housing prices, health insurance and day-care costs, excessive student debt, underemployment, and low wages. Those struggling to survive are not failures; Quart blames a systemic problem that neglects families and devalues caregiving. Proposed solutions include state-mandated "3-K" and pre-K, government-funded day care, cooperative parenting, stronger unions, and universal basic income. One chapter warns about robots and software gradually replacing hospital workers, pharmacy technicians, legal aids, lawyers, and eventually truck drivers. Finally, the author encourages a national conversation about the value of work, which could alter our collective perspective on providing for the most vulnerable. -VERDICT Reminiscent of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, this straightforward work will resonate with those feeling squeezed, and inform those who are not.-Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Is there even an American middle class anymore? Examining her own hardships as an erstwhile member of the Middle Precariat, Quart (Republic of Outsiders , 2013) probes the myriad difficulties families face in a postrecession landscape. Quart's own family struggles inform this exploration, as does her work for Barbara Ehrenreich's Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Examining the forces that squeeze American workers and their families, the the book recounts stories of the debt-laden intelligentsia, the hand-to-mouth wealthy, care workers of all stripes (day-care providers, nurses, and other pink-collar professions). Quart also shares stories of ersatz solutions, such as communal housing, gig jobs such as Uber, and those struggling for an encore career after the first evaporates. Touching on coping mechanisms like bling porn on television and Instagram as well as the insidious reach of robot labor eliminating decent-paying jobs, Quart pulls together the many strands of culture that affect the families of Squeezed. First-person interviews and profiles of her peers bring a human face to the stress and suffering of families struggling to get by in a nation that formerly prided itself on a vibrant, thriving middle class. A thorough and moving profile of U.S. families in a time of crisis.--Erin Downey Howerton Copyright 2018 Booklist