Going for broke Living on the edge in the world's richest country

Balancing on the edge of each dollar is a precarious position in the world's richest economy. Stories of disadvantaged people collected by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, edited by Quart (Bootstrapped, 2023) and Wallis (Killed Cartoons, 2007), pull back the curtain on what it's like to barely get by in America. The subjects' voices jump from the page with pain and hope. More than that, they're a provocation to the reader to consider the fine line between the lives of the "middle precariat" and their own, if there is one. Whether it's the ironies of telling working people not to smoke when the system does precious little to secure basic health care, an underpaid adjunct instructor handing her EBT card to her student clerking at the local grocery store, or a person with hearing impairments whose doctor thinks that hiding her condition as a "surprise" for a medical student is a hilarious joke, the editors position the voices of the disadvantaged as compelling, worth listening to, and valuable. The essays and mixed-media contributions will draw in book groups who dug into Evicted (2016), by Matthew Desmond (2016), Nomadland, by Jessica Bruder (2017), and Sarah Smarsh's Heartland (2018).

Economic injustice takes center stage in this mixed bag gathered by Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project (Bootstrapped), and managing director Wallis (Killed). The essays, poems, and photographs are "a testament to American life during the lingering pandemic," Quart writes in her introduction, "with its consequent exacerbated inequality." "I Did My Own Abortion Because Texas Used COVID-19 as an Excuse to Shut Down Abortion Clinics" is a striking anonymous account of the precarity of reproductive rights, while "I Grew Up Without a Fixed Address" by Bobbi Dempsey is a moving look at what it's like to apply for a grant having lived in "an estimated seventy places before I graduated high school" due to poverty. Some of the pieces feel a bit out of place: Elizabeth Gollen's "In the Pandemic, Cooking Connected Me to My Ancestors," which lacks the gravity of other essays, bemoans postpandemic changes at the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, while Joe Ford's "Why I Choose to Live House-Free in Alaska" seems to poke fun at the same homelessness the rest of the collection takes seriously. ("I don't want a flock of freakin' hobos descending on the area like an invasive species," he writes, explaining why he won't reveal the exact location of his campsite.) Though the quality varies, there's plenty of powerful vulnerability in these personal accounts. (Oct.)

An anthology presented by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project that explores social inequality and economic injustice in the U.S. The EHRP is "a nonprofit organization that keeps journalists, essayists, and photographers in the national conversation on economic injustice." Edited by executive director Quart and managing director Wallis, this collection of essays, poems, and photographs, originally published in leading magazines and journals, highlights the valuable insights gained by these journalists in confronting their own hardships. By publishing these works, the EHRP seeks to mobilize people "to fight for economic justice." The book is divided into five sections: The Body, Home, Family, Work, and Class. These emotionally charged and heart-wrenching narratives are both wide-ranging and powerfully rendered. Journalists from a variety of backgrounds share their experiences, including a woman who was forced to perform her own abortion following the shutdown of clinics in Texas and a 40-something man who donated plasma in order to pay the rent. One woman was homeless for two years, and she demonstrates the anxiety of feeling constantly on alert as well as the cyclical effects sleep deprivation has on homeless individuals. Another journalist shares how her assumptions about people without houses changed following her experience taking in a couple in Los Angeles. Other topics include inequalities in maternal health care for the uninsured and underinsured; the dangers low-wage workers are often expected to endure, which were particularly evident during the Covid-19 pandemic; struggles with racial identity; and the power of shared community. In addition to the editors, other contributors include Camonghne Felix, Kim Kelly, Elizabeth Rubin, Michelle Tea, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Astra Taylor. "The writers represented here," writes Quart, "may have lost their jobs, their homes, or even the narrative thread of their lives, but in confronting those hardships they have gained valuable insights into problems facing millions in this country." A penetrating collection that is certain to challenge the readers' views of those living in poverty. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.