BookShelf

Our list of relevant books written or recommended by UP members and directors.

The following books are available to those that sign up as Premium members. At a premium membership level of just 15 cents per day, you can select any of the books below as part of your membership. For just 25 cents per day, you can select two of the books below. We'll ship them directly to your address.

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		Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich Bait and Switch highlights the people who've done everything right — gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive resumés — yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster, and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Order from Powells.com
		Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed by Annabelle Gurwitch A collection of hilarious but true tales from people who've all gotten the ax, the boot, or been canned at some point in their lives. Order from Powells.com
		Are There Any Good Jobs Left?: Career Management in the Age of the Disposable Worker by R. William Holland This book is for and about the millions of people who are between jobs (code for out of work), have been between jobs, or know of someone who has been. Order from Powells.com
		Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead by Tamara Draut For the 60 percent of people aged 18-34 who find themselves consistently behind the financial eight ball, Strapped offers a groundbreaking look at the new obstacle course facing young adults as they try to build careers, buy homes, and start families. Order from Powells.com
		The Culture of the New Capitalism (currently not available as a premium member benefit) by Richard Sennett Sennett surveys major differences between earlier forms of industrial capitalism and the ever more mutable version of capitalism that is taking its place. He shows how these changes affect everyday life and what he calls 'the specter of uselessness' that haunts professionals as well as manual workers. Order from Powells.com
		All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy by Jared Bernstein As the new century unfolds, we face prodigious economic, but thus far the dominant vision has failed to develop a hopeful narrative about how these challenges can be met in way that uplifts the majority. This is an alternative vision with a simple message: we're all in this together. Order from Powells.com
		A Country that Works by Andy Stern Today's average American household is deeply in debt, has set aside inadequate retirement savings, and may or may not have health insurance. More than ever, we are living paycheck to paycheck and too many of us are only one illness or accident away from bankruptcy. SEIU President Andy Stern examines these realities and presents his ideas for reforming our political and social systems to meet the 21st century needs of everyday working Americans. Order from Powells.com
		SOLIDARITY DIVIDED: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin Candid, incisive, and accessible, Solidarity Divided is a critical examination of labor’s current crisis and a plan for a bold new way forward into the twenty-first century. Bill Fletcher and Fernando Gapasin offer a remarkable mix of vivid history and probing analysis. They chart changes in U.S. manufacturing, examine the onslaught of globalization, consider the influence of the environment on labor, and provide the first broad analysis of the fallout from the 2000 and 2004 elections on the U.S. labor movement. Order from Powells.com
		High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families Peter Gosselin The U.S. economy is wrapping up twenty-five years of some of the strongest, smoothest growth in its history-a performance so sweet economists have given it a name: “the Great Moderation.” So why have so many of us, even those making hundreds of thousands of dollars, arrived at the new century with a gnawing sense that events are moving against our families and ourselves? Drawing on interviews with hundreds of Americans and new statistics he developed, Peter Gosselin traces a quarter-century shift of economic risk from the broad shoulders of business and government to the backs of working people. Peter Gosselin is national economics correspondent for the Los Angeles Times in the Washington bureau and isa visiting fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Order from Powells.com
		Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed (And Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries) Jared Bernstein Is Social Security really going bust, and what does that mean to me? If I hire an immigrant, am I hurting a native-born worker? How much can presidents really affect economic outcomes? Why does the stock market go up when employment declines? What's a "living wage?" Why do I feel so squeezed? If you'd like to know the answers to these questions, premier economist Jared Bernstein is here to help. In "Crunch" he answers these as well as dozens of others he has fielded from working Americans by email, on blogs, and at events where he speaks. Chances are if there's a stumper you've always wanted to ask an economist, it's solved in this book. Jared Bernstein is a senior economist at the Economic PolicyInstitute. Order from Powells.com
		The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker Steven Greenhouse "Steve Greenhouse has written the essential economic book for 2008. Long before most analysts noticed the downturn, Greenhouse was reporting how troubled our economy looked from the bottom-up. A hugely talented reporter with a passion for justice, a shrewd student of the new economy and a brilliant guide to the contemporary labor movement, Greenhouse writes with clarity, energy and grace."—E. J. Dionne Jr. Steven Greenhouse is the labor and workplace reporter for the New York Times and is one of the few remaining full-time labor reporters in the country. Order from Powells.com
		Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education Joe Berry Reclaiming the Ivory Tower examines the situation of adjunct professors in U.S. higher education today, describes the process of organizing them to improve their conditions of work, and puts forward an agenda around which adjunct labor can mobilize and transform the universities. Joe Berry teaches labor education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and chairs the Chicago Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor. Order from Powells.com
		Access to Unemployment Insurance Benefits for Contingent Faculty: A manual for applicants and a strategy to gain full rights to benefits Joe Berry, Helena Worthen, and Beverly Stewart Read more and download
		Unemployed: A Memoir Reginald L. Goodwin A downsized engineer recounts his life growing up in an urban ghetto juxtaposed at midlife with the loss of his career and the pursuit of the American Dream. Reginald Goodwin is an expert on unemployment. Three years and eleven months to be exact. Laid off from his position in the semiconductor industry as a Senior Product Engineer at the birth of a spin-off company, Reggie went through a dark time of denial, anger, despair; self-doubt and finally: blogging! Read more

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