Synopses & Reviews
Every year, at least half a million Americans work as interns. They famously shuttle coffee in a thousand newsrooms, congressional offices, and Hollywood studios, but they also deliver aid in Afghanistan, build the human genome, and pick up garbage. They are increasingly of all ages, and their numbers are growing fast from 17 percent of college graduates in 1992 to 50 percent in 2008. Almost half of all internships are illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and this mass exploitation saves firms more than $600 million each year. Interns enjoy no workplace protections and no standing in courts of law let alone benefits like healthcare.
Here is the first exposé of the world of internships, by a brilliant young writer. A graduate of Stanford, SOAs, and Cambridge, Ross Perlin is an internship survivor himself. in this witty, astonishing, and serious investigative work, Perlin takes the reader inside both boutique nonprofits and megacorporations like Disney (which employs 8,000 interns at Disney World alone). He profiles fellow interns, talks to historians about what unleashed this phenomenon, and explains why six states and several European countries are debating legislation meant to rein in the intern boom.
The word ‘internship' has many meanings, but at Disney World it signifies cheap, flexible labor for one of the world's largest and best-known companies magical, educational burger-flipping in the Happiest Place on Earth.
"Our youngest workers, least likely to be wise in the ways of the workplace, effectively have no legal voice; they are considered no different from bystanders who just happen to be holding down a cubicle. Those subject to sexual harassment or racial discrimination have no legal recourse. No fair hiring practices pertain. In the world of internships, anything goes employment practices right out of the nineteenth-century are resurfacing in twenty-first-century office parks and skyscrapers."
Review
'Interns built the pyramids,' the great magazine The Baffler once declared. And that was just the beginning of their labors, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this fascinating and overdue exposé of the wage labor without wages, the resumé-building servitude, at the heart of contemporary capitalism."
Review
Alas, the valuable internship institution is being widely and flagrantly abused, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this eye-opening book. A huge chunk of the American workplace has been distorted in an unhealthy way, and Perlin provides not only the diagnosis but the beginnings of a prescription. --James Ledbetter, author of Unwarranted Influence
Review
The world has been waiting for this book. It's lucky that someone as thoughtful and politically aware as Ross Perlin was there to write it. --Anya Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt and DIY U
Review
Cloaked in the innocent idea of the intern, aggressive employers are using young people trying to get a foothold to weaken the leverage of existing workers, especially professionals. Ross Perlin gives us an account of another subterranean strategy to undermine working people in the US. --Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate Center, CUNY
Review
[Perlin's] exposé on the internship model initiates a critical conversation on internships when are they exploitative and when are they necessary? Can they help you land your dream job? and his thoughtful book is necessary reading for the millions of young people trying to break into the working world through internships.
Review
A timely book addressing the exploitation of the nation's younger workforce under the guise of the 'internship model.'That fact that it took this long for someone to write this book seems as blatantly wrong as the practice itself. Perlin provides a welcome, long-overdue and much-needed argument.[Perlin's] exposé on the internship model initiates a critical conversation on internships—when are they exploitative and when are they necessary? Can they help you land your dream job?—and his thoughtful book is necessary reading for the millions of young people trying to break into the working world through internships.'Interns built the pyramids,’ the great magazine The Baffler once declared. And that was just the beginning of their labors, as Ross Perlin demonstrates in this fascinating and overdue exposé of the wage labor without wages, the resumé-building servitude, at the heart of contemporary capitalism.” --Benjamin Kunkel, author of Indecision
Review
"Organizations in America save $2 billion a year by not paying interns a minimum wage, writes Ross Perlin in Intern Nation." Economist
Review
"Perlin contends that most internships are illegal, according to the Fair Labor and Standards Act, stripping people who are employees in all but name of workers' rights." New Yorker
Review
"[A] blistering, highly entertaining attack on today's internship culture." Boston Globe
Review
"That fact that it took this long for someone to write this book seems as blatantly wrong as the practice itself. Perlin provides a welcome, long-overdue and much-needed argument." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
The first no-holds-barred exposé of the exploitative and divisive world of internships.
Synopsis
Every year, between one and two million Americans work as interns. They famously shuttle coffee in a thousand newsrooms, congressional offices, and Hollywood studios, but they also deliver aid in Afghanistan, build the human genome, and pick up garbage. They are increasingly of all ages, and their numbers are growing fast--from 17 percent of college graduates in 1992 to 50 percent in 2008. A huge and increasing number of internships are illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and this mass exploitation saves firms more than $600 million each year. Interns enjoy no workplace protections and no standing in courts of law--let alone benefits like health care.
Ross Perlin has written the first exposé of this world of drudgery and aspiration. In this witty, astonishing, and serious investigative work, Perlin takes the reader inside both boutique nonprofits and megacorporations such as Disney (which employs 8,000 interns at Disney World alone). He profiles fellow interns, talks to academics and professionals about what unleashed this phenomenon, and explains why the intern boom is perverting workplace practices in locations all around the world.
Insightful and humorous, Intern Nation will transform the way we think about the culture of work.
Synopsis
Interns. They famously shuttle coffee in a thousand newsrooms, MPs’ offices, and film sets, but they also deliver aid in Afghanistan, design high-end fashions, and build the human genome. They are of all ages, and their numbers are growing fast in an increasingly bleak economic landscape for young people. A huge and increasing number of internships are illegal under minimum wage law and this mass exploitation saves companies millions each year. Interns enjoy no workplace protections and no standing in courts of law—let alone luxuries such as a living wage.
Ross Perlin, a self-confessed intern survivor, has written the first exposé of the brave new world of unpaid work. In this witty, astonishing, and serious investigative work, Perlin takes the reader inside both boutique nonprofits and megacorporations such as Disney. He unmasks a grotesque internship industry where coveted, unpaid placements are auctioned off and universities are complicit in exploiting student labour. He profiles fellow interns, talks to historians about what unleashed this phenomenon, and explains why the intern boom is perverting workplace practices in locations all around the world.
Thought-provoking, insightful, and humorous, Intern Nation is an urgent call to overturn the latest racket in unpaid work.
About the Author
Ross Perlin is a graduate of Stanford, SOAS, and Cambridge, and has written for, the New York Times, Time magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly, Guardian, Daily Mail, and Open Democracy. He is researching disappearing languages in China.