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Working In The Shadows: A Year Of Doing The Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do (2009)

by Gabriel Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1568584083 (ISBN13: 9781568584089)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Nation Books

review 1: This is a great book in the tradition of worker journalists like Barbara Garson, Barbara Ehrenreich, etc. where they work at low wage jobs and try to portray the dignity of the work and the struggles they go through. Thompson works in Yuma, AZ cutting heads of lettuce, in Russelville, AR at a chicken plant and in NYC at a flower stand and as a restaurant bike delivery guy. All were pretty difficult assignments and you have to admire Thompson for sticking with these assignments despite the physical abuse to his body. Reading this book you get a good insider's look at these jobs and cultures. The great irony was that I bought a used copy and got a former library book from the Yuma, AZ library! I guess they got rid of the book as it wasn't politically correct (although t... morehat chapter actually showed the work, while hard, to be fair and much better than the chicken plant or restaurant work. An interesting book and well worth reading for aspiring journalists and worker advocates.
review 2: Working in the Shadows was quite a haul.Enjoyable, yet a constant scratch that I couldn't itch.Maybe it was because it was school reading?Anyways, Thompson does a fantastic job of getting the facts across while keeping readers amused. The voice he uses throughout his writing is an enjoyable one, that does a good job of both translation as well as minimal jargon.I wouldn't go out of my way to say OH MY GOD. EVERYBODY READ THIS BOOK NOW. But it is a very nice read and my eyes were opened up to a lot of important social issues due to it. Informative, entertaining, and a quick read (I just procrastinated, okay?) less

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