" Powerful and poignant.... Newman's message is clear and timely." --"The Philadelphia Inquirer" In No Shame in My Game, Harvard anthropologist Katherine Newman gives voice to a population for whom work, family, and self-esteem are top priorities despite all the factors that make earning a living next to impossible--minimum wage, lack of child care and health care, and a desperate shortage of even low-paying jobs. By intimately following the lives of nearly 300 inner-city workers and job seekers for two yearsin Harlem, Newman explores a side of poverty often ignored by media and politicians--the working poor. The working poor find dignity in earning a paycheck and shunning the welfare system, arguing that even low-paying jobs give order to their lives. No Shame in My Game gives voice to a misrepresented segment of today's society, and is sure to spark dialogue over the issues surrounding poverty, working and welfare.

"[Newman] balances the personal experience of her subjects with thorough reasearch, analysis, and ideas for policy reform but the stories of the people working for minimum wage are what stay with you." --The New Yorker

"Extremely valuable...extremely engaging."-The Denver Post

In No Shame in My Game, Harvard anthropologist Katherine Newman gives voice to a population for whom work, family, and self-esteem are top priorities despite all the factors that make earning a living next to impossible — minimum wage, lack of child care and health care, and a desperate shortage of even low-paying jobs. By intimately following the lives of nearly 300 inner-city workers and job seekers for two years in Harlem, Newman explores a side of poverty often ignored by media and politicians — the working poor.

These workers persevere in a country that, more than any other, measures self-worth through employment but deems "hamburger flipping" jobs unworthy. The working poor find dignity in earning a paycheck and shunning the welfare system, arguing that even low-paying jobs give order to their lives. No Shame in My Game shows us a misrepresented segment of today's society, and is sure to spark dialogue over the issues surrounding poverty, working, and welfare.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-376) and index.

Katherine Newman is a professor at Harvard University.