Social Class

For nearly half a century, Americans have been bombarded by neoliberal propaganda promoting the lie that wages are objectively determined by impersonal labor markets. This falsehood has been repeated by academics, journalists, business leaders, and politicians so often that even many on the liberal left and the populist right believe it. In Hell to Pay, Michael Lind, author of The New Class War, debunks this lie.

Most of the top jobs for the future require students to have a strong foundational understanding of mathematics. Our failure to mathematically educate most students in general, and students of color in particular, is bad not only for these students individually but also for our society. In Choosing to See, Pamela Seda and Kyndall Brown offer a substantive, rigorous, and necessary set of interventions to move mathematics education toward greater equity, particularly in serving the needs of Black and Brown students, who are underrepresented and underserved as math scholars.

We may be living longer, but people are more socially isolated than ever before. As a result, we are hindered both mentally and physically, and many of us are looking for something concrete we can do to address problems like poverty, racism, and climate change. What if solutions could be found on your very doorstep or just two door knocks away? Cormac Russell and John McKnight offer a wealth of illustrative examples from around the world that will inspire you to explore your own community and discover its hidden treasures.

On October 12, 2005, a massive fire broke out in the Wines Central wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. Within hours, the flames had destroyed 4.5 million bottles of California's finest wine worth more than $250 million, making it the largest destruction of wine in history. The fire had been deliberately set by a passionate oenophile named Mark Anderson, a skilled con man and thief with storage space at the warehouse who needed to cover his tracks.

Behind The Setting of a Country Club According to Inquisitive Jeff” by James Landsaw is a book that delves into the intriguing and often scandalous world of a country club. The story follows Jeff, a waiter at the club, who uncovers various aspects of life within this exclusive setting. The book explores themes such as gossip, corruption, lifestyles, sex, scandals, racism, drugs, lies, and politics, showing that these issues permeate all levels of society, regardless of class. Jeff’s inquisitive nature leads him to discover that whether one is rich, middle class, or poor, everyone faces ...

When unlucky teacher Ms. Linda LaCrosse wins the lottery, she shares her winnings with her class—giving each student over a billion dollars! You might think this is nice, but it is not. It is a nasty idea! With great money comes horrible allergies, steep taxes, exploding volcanoes, and other problems. As the students of Classroom 13 are about to learn, winning the lottery is not always lucky.

Kensington, Philadelphia, is distinguished only by its poverty. It is home to Ryan, Giancarlos, and Emmanuel, three Puerto Rican children who live among the most marginalized families in the United States. This is the story of their coming-of-age, which is beset by violence—the violence of homelessness, hunger, incarceration, stray bullets, sexual and physical assault, the hypermasculine logic of the streets, and the drug trade. In Kensington, eighteenth birthdays are not rites of passage but statistical miracles.

Growing up poor, Deborah Dundas knew what it meant to want, to be hungry, and to long for social and economic dignity; she understood the crushing weight of having nothing much expected of you. But even after overcoming many of the usual barriers faced by lower- and working-class people, she still felt anxious about her place, and even in relatively safe spaces reluctant to broach the subject of class. While new social movements have generated open conversation about gender and racism, discussions of class rarely include the voices of those most deeply affected: the working class and poor.

The hilarious, charming, and candid story of writer Christopher Ingraham’s decision to uproot his life and move his family to Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, population 1,400 - the community he made famous as “the worst place to live in America” in a story he wrote for the Washington Post.

In this boldly drawn portrait of 18th-century England, Roy Porter defines a nation from its princes to its paupers, from its metropolis to its smallest hamlet. The topics covered run the gamut, covering diet, housing, prisons, rural festivals, bordellos, plays, paintings, and work and wages.

When Harry was five his mother married a coal miner. Loved by his new family, Harry embraced their socialism and considered rejecting his inheritance from the father he'd never known. He graduated Oxford with dreams of becoming an artist but when his beloved 'step-grandfather', ex-miner Billy Evans succumbed to TB Harry volunteered to accompany him to a sanatorium. There he met Diana, a beautiful, feminist medical student; and Mary, an illiterate, farmer's daughter fighting to keep her family together. Harry falls in love - suffers rejection - and finds out about life and the responsibility...

In the first half of the twentieth century the Keynesian brand of economics, which saw government spending as a necessary spur to economic growth, prevailed. Then in the 1970s, conservatives fought back. Once they got people to believe a few simple ideas instead—that only the free market could produce growth, that taxes and regulation stifle growth—the battle was won.

Velcro & Zippers originally appeared in the literary journal Raven Chronicles. It is also available on Kindle and in print as part of the collection Easy Money & Other Stories. True love is sweet, but it's not always meant to last. "He looked at her beautiful face and breasts, her firm abdomen, all striped by bands of light and shadow, wondering what she was doing with him, why she had stayed as long as she had. He reached across the table and touched her cheek with his fingertips, then leaned forward and kissed her lips. He sat back. She smiled." A short read with a subtle impact.

From New York Times business reporter Nelson D. Schwartz comes a gripping investigation of how a virtual velvet rope divides Americans in every arena of life, creating a friction-free existence for those with money on one side and a Darwinian struggle for the middle class on the other side.

Ser un buen maestro nunca ha sido fácil, pero en los tiempos actuales, enseñar se ha vuelto un verdadero reto. Cualquiera puede pararse frente a un grupo de alumnos y hacerse llamar maestro, pero sólo algunos realmente merecen ese nombre. Porque ser maestro en todo el sentido de la palabra es un privilegio que se gana con el esfuerzo por crecer para dar lo mejor de uno mismo a los alumnos. Rosa Barocio, con consejos prácticos y mucho sentido de humor, dedica este libro a maestros interesados en revivir su vocación para no sólo ser buenos maestros, sino maestros extraordinarios.

Since the financial crash of 2008, the cooperative movement has been coming back with renewed vigor. Everything for Everyone chronicles this economic and social revolution. Cooperative enterprise is poised to help us reclaim faith in our capacity for creative, powerful democracy.

Brad Braxton and Anthony Pinn represent two traditions—Christianity and Secular Humanism respectively—that have for centuries existed in bitter opposition. For too long, people with different worldviews have disparaged and harmed one another. Instead of fighting each other, Braxton and Pinn talk with, listen to, and learn from one another. Their wide-ranging conversation demonstrates the possibility of fruitful exchange that accounts for—rather than masks—their differences.

Listeners will be fascinated by this young adult adaptation of the New York Times bestselling nonfiction work as they follow masterful narratives about real people that reveal an insidious phenomenon in the United States: a hidden caste system. Caste is not only about race or class; it is about power—which groups have it and which do not. Isabel Wilkerson explores historical social hierarchies, including those in India and Nazi Germany, and explains how perpetuating these rankings dehumanizes vast sections of society.

Families today are squeezed on every side - from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours. Many realize that attaining the standard of living their parents managed has become impossible. Alissa Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, examines the lives of many middle-class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children.

New York Times best-selling author Nancy Krulik has written more than 150 books for young audiences. Even the most reluctant reader will be enthralled by Super Burp!, the tale of a class clown looking for a fresh angle. On his first day at a new school, George Brown tries to leave his goofball reputation behind him. But soon his body is overpowered by magical, loud-as-thunder burps that compel him to do crazy things.