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1st out of 34 books
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This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation
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 title: couldn’t some prophetic fact-c...more
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 title: couldn’t some prophetic fact-c...more
Hardcover, 235 pages
Published
June 24th 2008
by Metropolitan Books
(first published January 1st 2008)
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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...more
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!
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Aug 10, 2008
Chazzle
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who aren't happy unless they're sad
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 ca...more
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 ca...more
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 poli...more
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...more
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 hype...more
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...more
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, i...more
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, rand...more
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, rand...more
I play my politics pretty close to the vest. I have political opinions, sure. But not only do I live in an area where my political leanings are leaning toward the shallow end of the majority, but I also hate to convince other people to think a certain way. So, this means that I have no response when questioned about my political beliefs. And, even though it makes me the worst political person in the world, I am ok with that.
So, this collection of very liberal-minded essays is, in essence, very a...more
So, this collection of very liberal-minded essays is, in essence, very a...more
This is a collection of two-page at best short little rambles about various subjects that approach liberal cliche. I actually enjoyed her Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America and am sympathetic to her populist form of liberalism, but this book is a mess. Each little snippet simply is too short to even work as snapshots. By the time she warms up to her argument, it's over and on to the next one.
They are also much stereotypical and less measured than her other books. Without the human...more
They are also much stereotypical and less measured than her other books. Without the human...more
I like the essay format for a change: she has a lot of ground to cover, and I like that I can read a few essays at a time and then put down the book for a while. She makes a lot of good points, as always, but I often felt that the snark (which I mostly didn't find all that funny) prevented her from getting very deep into the arguments both for and against some of the points she was making. Sometimes she's making observations about poignant or outrageous things, and not much argumentation was nee...more
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...more
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...more
I have mixed feelings about this book, which is a collection of very short essays on a variety of topics, most of which relating to the economic and social inequality in America. In some of the essays, in particular the the ones relating to economic inequality, I could feel Ehrenreich's outrage and disgust. She satirically skewers some very twisted economic thinking, thinking which, as she frequently points out, often leads to immoral and absurd abuses of those less fortunate.
But at times I fel...more
But at times I fel...more
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, exac...more
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, exac...more
I had started reading "The Shock Doctrine" and found it to be too much over a holiday break. I was so enthralled by the first 16 pages, but wanted to truly put time into the book; so I switched to "This Land" since I need to send it to my daughter in Azerbaijan anyway.
I admire Ehrenreich's ability to structure 2-4 page pithy, often tongeu-in-cheek summaries of her interpretation of major global issues, although as an academician I must admit a certain bias in work with so many references and no...more
I admire Ehrenreich's ability to structure 2-4 page pithy, often tongeu-in-cheek summaries of her interpretation of major global issues, although as an academician I must admit a certain bias in work with so many references and no...more
Your experience of this book will depend almost entirely on whether or not you already find Barbara Ehrenreich witty and insightful and fascinating. I do, so I enjoyed this collection of brief observations, but it would not have converted me if I had come to it as an Ehrenreich skeptic. The basic theme holding the book together is something like, "Life is really hard in the U.S. in the first decade of the new millenium," and Ehrenreich casts a wide net as she mocks big business, the health care...more
Barbara's book is a really good one. I give it 3.5 stars but round down because a) it's more a series of essays than a cohesive book. She makes a lot of great individual points which somewhat naturally go together, and I appreciate that she doesn't overwrite transitions, but still - book of essays; and b), perhaps the bigger reason, is that I can't recommend this book to any but my most liberal friends. Ehrenreich is a hardcore liberal. I like her because she is more or less consistent in her co...more
Jul 23, 2011
Jon
added it
Barbara Ehrenreich's new book is a collection of short pieces about various aspects of American life today, divided into sections about general issues such as sex, medical care, economic inequality, and religion. To her credit, BE doesn't try to suggest that our problems could be solved by electing more Democrats (besides, when voters did just that in 2006, nothing changed, except maybe for the worse). BE isn't afraid to admit when she was previously wrong, as in her discussion of how the Abu Gh...more
SUCH a disappointment! I loved Nicked and Dimed; I thought Bait and Switch a solid follow-up, if perhaps not quite as sharp or sassy as its predecessor. But this work was just limp and uninspired.
If you were expecting a book with a solid thesis, look elsewhere; This Land is Their Land is just a collection of essays by Ehrenreich, some of which have been previously published in other sources. Lacking any formal citations, they read as editorials - Ehrenreich's opinions, nothing more. And unfortu...more
If you were expecting a book with a solid thesis, look elsewhere; This Land is Their Land is just a collection of essays by Ehrenreich, some of which have been previously published in other sources. Lacking any formal citations, they read as editorials - Ehrenreich's opinions, nothing more. And unfortu...more
Jul 24, 2011
Kshappert
added it
I loved Nickel and Dimed by Ehrenreich...while she was quite critical of of government, programs for the poor, major corporations, Wal-mart etc..I felt like she legitimzed her arguments because she spent the entire year before writing the book working at a series of minimum wage jobs and getting a full appreciation for how difficult it is to have even the basic necessities much less acheive the "American Dream." In This Land is Their Land, she is so bitter and cynical that it is almost over the...more
I've followed Ehrenreich's rise, from her days of giving speeches to union gatherings in Minneapolis in the wake of Nickel and Dimed and have always thought that she has something interesting to contribute (despite some of the problems with her work). However, this books reads like a random collection of her thoughts on a whole bunch of topics--economics and the American worker (obviously) but also cancer and abortion...and a lot of other things. It was interesting, but there was no overarching...more
Despite sharing many political opinions and sympathies with the author I was relatively disappointed with this book. There were a few excellent bits regarding the oft-overlooked costs associated with being poor in America but overall the book felt like a series of poorly-reasoned rants. Even in the instances where I wholeheartedly agreed with Ms. Ehrenreich's conclusions I often felt that her arguments lacked depth. A poorly reasoned argument for a correct conclusion can easily backfire as it pr...more
This book is a witty, insightful, and utterly depressing collection of essays about an array of social, economic, and political issues. These issues range from health care to government funding of faith-based organizations to sky rocketing property values. Being a Barbara Ehrenreich book, these essays of course treat heavily on the disparity of class in America, and they do so brilliantly. She uses just the right mix of wit and fact to make her point. The ever widening gap between rich and poor...more
I think this is one case in which the whole is not as great as the sum of its parts. The voluminous collection of essays is fairly repetitive. It is still, however, a book with much wit and thought-provoking content. Take, for instance, this passage from the essay entitled "The Faith Factor": "The closest analogy to America's bureaucratized evangelical movement is Hamas, which draws in poverty-stricken Palestinians through its own miniature welfare state." She then goes on to draw behavioral co...more
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.
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.
This was not as good as her book of essays from the 1980's The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed. It's less varied. This book has one subject: the imbalance of wealth in the United States. She's a very good writer and you can appreciate that fact and still be tepid about some of her conclusions. She's always had a lot of unreasonable class resentment towards the the haves. The essay in this collection that exemplifies this contrast is called "Got Grease?". It cent...more
Barbara Ehrenreich’s This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation seems like yet another book of how the last eight years’ administration has failed us (us meaning people not making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year), and in fact, that’s basically what it is. Each mini-essay takes you through yet another reason why Ehrenreich thinks things suck. While I don’t disagree, after a while I was kind of sick of it all. By now haven’t we all heard and experienced enough to know that ye...more
Muckraker Barbara Ehrenreich is one of the 99% — a fact that she isn't about to let us soon forget. In her 2008 exposé of the Man's exploits, This Land Is Your Their Land, which consists of several essays (some of which written in the style of Mr. Swift's “Modest Proposal”, such as the suggestion that parents should consider taking their children to the vastly cheaper veterinarians in the face of cruddy health care providers), Ms. Ehrenreich lets us know that she is a) feminist/socialist/liberal...more
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Barbara Ehrenreich is the bestselling author of sixteen previous books, including the bestsellers Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. A frequent contributor to Harpers and The Nation, she has also been a columnist at The New York Times and Time Magazine.
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“You still don't like the idea of gay marriage? Then, as my friend the economist Julianne Malveaux says: Don't marry a gay person. Case closed, problem solved.”
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