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Title: Putting a Face on Those Who Do the Heavy Lifting
Review: In the late 1990's, Barbara Ehrenreich, a writer with a PhD in Biology went undercover to work minimum wage jobs: waitress, house cleaner, nursing home aide and retail person. Though the late 90's were years of prosperity in America, Erhenerich discovered that a minimum wage job allowed one barely to survive; and given a car repair or medical emergency, one quickly sank into debt out of which there was no easy path. For me the value her account lay in the descriptions of her fellow workers, the problems they shared, the difficulties they faced, and the kindnesses they extended to each other. Strangely, I was reminded of a long ago time, among Marines in Vietnam. The stories of people we almost never see, but who serve us every day, are given authenticity in this short collection of case studies. Against the backdrop of the current 2012 political debates, this is a timely book.
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