Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A collection of immersive and hard-hitting essays, poems, and photography that provide an honest reckoning with economic hardship in the US--and the systems that perpetuate it.
In the tradition of the Federal Writers' Project of the 1930s, Going for Broke, edited by Economic Hardship Reporting Project directors Alissa Quart and David Wallis, assembles the experiences of Americans who are living on the edge. A grocery store worker describes the job of an "essential worker" during the pandemic; a veteran details his experience with homelessness and the comprehensive approach to care that would have helped him. One writer recounts the lessons she's learned shopping at thrift stores; another details how inequality in maternal healthcare left her with undiagnosed postpartum PTSD. Personal stories of these writers and artists reflect the larger systems that have made their bodily experiences, their families, their homes, their work, and their social class profoundly challenging.
EHRP founder Barbara Ehrenreich once wrote, "As a journalist, I search for the truth. But as a moral person, I am also obliged to do something about it." Featuring introductions by Camoghne Felix, Michelle Tea, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Kathi Weeks, and Astra Taylor, Going for Broke offers first-hand accounts that document the reality of the US, even as it fractures into a place some of us no longer recognize. With their stories and their truths, these journalists point us toward collective policies, solutions, and action.
Synopsis
A collection of compelling, hard-hitting essays, documentary poems, and photographs that together expose our punitive social systems from the ground up. Going for Broke, edited by Alissa Quart, Executive Director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and David Wallis, EHRP's Managing Director, gives voice to a range of gifted writers who know what it means to live on the edge. These are journalists for whom "economic precarity" is more than just another assignment. One essayist and grocery store worker describes what it is like to be an "essential worker" during the pandemic; another reporter and military veteran details his experience with homelessness and what would have actually helped him at the time. These dozens of fierce and sometimes darkly funny pieces reflect the larger systems that have made writers' bodily experiences, family and home lives, and work far harder than they ought to be.
All illustrate what the late Barbara Ehrenreich, who conceived of EHRP, once described as "the real face of journalism today: not million dollar-a-year anchorpersons, but low-wage workers and downwardly spiraling professionals." Going for Broke champions these writers and rejects the common understanding that those who opine about inequality should come from the top of the income ladder. Featuring introductions by a stellar line-up, including Camonghne Felix, Michelle Tea, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Kathi Weeks, and Astra Taylor, Going for Broke is eye-opening and moving, as well as instructive of the steps we can take to change the stalemate we find ourselves in today.