Divided The perils of our growing inequality

Book - 2014

"The issue of inequality has irrefutably returned to the fore, riding on the anger against Wall Street following the 2008 financial crisis and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of the super-rich. The Occupy movement made the plight of the 99 percent an indelible part of the public consciousness, and concerns about inequality were a decisive factor in the 2012 presidential elections. How bad is it? According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, most Americans, in inflation-adjusted terms, are now back to the average income of 1966. Shockingly, from 2009 to 2011, the top 1 percent got 121 percent of the income gains while the bottom 99 percent saw their income fall. Yet in this most unequa...l of developed nations, every aspect of inequality remains hotly contested and poorly understood. Divided collects the writings of leading scholars, activists, and journalists to provide an illuminating, multifaceted look at inequality in America, exploring its devastating implications in areas as diverse as education, justice, health care, social mobility, and political representation. Provocative and eminently readable, here is an essential resource for anyone who cares about the future of America--and compelling evidence that inequality can be ignored only at the nation's peril. "--

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Subjects
Published
New York : The New Press 2014.
Language
English
Other Authors
David Johnston, 1948- (editor of compilation)
Physical Description
xxi, 324 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9781595589231
  • Introduction
  • Insights on Inequality
  • Overview
  • Inequality and Democracy
  • The Vanishing Middle Class
  • Necessaries
  • Income Inequality
  • How Gains at the Top Injure the Middle Class
  • Inequality Is Holding Back the Recovery
  • Wage Theft
  • Home Depot's CEO-Size Tip
  • Why Do So Many Jobs Pay So Badly?
  • In the Heart of Our Economy and Our Lives
  • Household Wealth Inequality
  • Inequality Across Generations
  • "I Didn't Do It Alone"
  • Arthur A. Robertson and the 1929 Crash
  • Graduates v. Oligarchs
  • Education
  • No Rich Child Left Behind
  • Achievement Gap: Editorial Projects of the Education Research Center
  • Back to School
  • Educational Quality and Equality
  • Health Care Inequality
  • Health and Income Inequalities Are Linked
  • Unequal Quality of Care
  • Reducing Health Care Disparities
  • Universal Health Care
  • U.S. Health Care Costs the Most-by Far
  • Inequality Kills
  • Debt and Poverty
  • Jailed for Being in Debt
  • America's Poverty "Tax"
  • Hunger in America
  • Georgia's Hunger Games
  • Living Down to Expectations
  • Policy
  • How Economics Is Biased Toward the Rich
  • Don't Drink the Kool-Aid
  • Social Security Reduces Inequality-Efficiently, Effectively, and Fairly
  • Arguments For and Against Income Inequality
  • Inequality of Hazard
  • A Different Kind of Epidemic
  • Prison's Dilemma
  • Family
  • Men and Their Underpaid Women
  • Race, Gender, Family Structure, and Poverty
  • Employed Parents Who Can't Make a Living
  • Contributors
  • Additional Reading
  • Permissions
Review by Choice Review

Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has compiled a compelling set of readings regarding the current dimensions of US income and wealth inequality. Excerpted pieces from over 30 leading economists, journalists, and scholars discuss various aspects of inequality, including links to health and education outcomes, debt, poverty, the vanishing middle class, and governmental policies that either have led to increased inequality or propose to reduce it. Books of diverse collected readings such as this one do not guide the reader tightly as to exactly what conclusions to draw, other than the overwhelming one that inequality is bad both for society and all the people at the low end of the income distribution. They also run the risk of creating an overly diffuse effect, a sense of outrage without careful formulation of either the problems or the solutions, or of how the various parts of the problems and solutions interrelate. In a classroom context, this book would best be incorporated as part of more targeted coursework on inequality. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. J. P. Jacobsen Wesleyan University

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.