Barbara Ehrenreich, Explorer of Prosperity's Dark Side, Dies at 81

[swag]

Source: New York Times

Her book “Nickel and Dimed,” an undercover account of the indignities of being a low-wage worker in the United States, is considered a classic in social justice literature.

By Natalie Schachar
Sept. 2, 2022
Updated 2:38 p.m. ET
It was a casual meeting.

Over salmon and field greens, Barbara Ehrenreich was discussing future articles with her editor at Harper’s Magazine. Then, as she recalled, the conversation drifted.

How could anyone survive on minimum wage? She mused. A tenacious journalist should find out.

Her editor, Lewis Lapham, offered a half smile and a single word reply: “You.”

The result was the book “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” (2001), an undercover account of the indignities, miseries and toil of being a low-wage worker in the United States. It became a best seller and a classic in social justice literature.
Ms. Ehrenreich, the journalist, activist and author, died at 81 on Thursday at a hospice facility in Alexandria, Va., where she also had a home. Her daughter, Rosa Brooks, said the cause was a stroke.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/books/barbara-ehrenreich-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=qcm-RLH8ZU5nIpQlKfxm3TZP_g__-lyyw3IOALjYoLrMP4aQ-j5m9FkhH3kzR2_S87ENjjpv02nCh2UdI4UwXtT-O0C1n-sFNET5d_-DrcT0dBRW6MhjSHzMFH1P

[intrepidity]

1. RIP good woman, nt

[Javaman]

2. such a shame Love her truth telling books. nt

[bahboo]

3. a life well lived....

[heckles65]

4. I loved "Nickel and Dimed"

--I lived that shit. And I can always tell people who have had to work at a job they hated - and those who never had to.

[honest.abe]

9. Me too.

A great read and timeless.

[Brenda]

10. I hear ya.

Sad to hear Barbara's gone. She was an excellent journalist and author...something hard to find these days.

It really does come down to that...those who have worked the grind and those who don't even have a clue what that's like. Middle class people bitching about capital gains taxes while someone earning not much more than adjusted 1970's wages while working 50-60 hour weeks cleaning offices or hotels has to pay fucking taxes on their groceries.

[burrowowl]

5. RIP! Good journalist!

[Jim__]

6. RIP. A good writer, a good person.

[Delphinus]

7. ...

RIP

She lived a good life and enlightened many.

[PlanetBev]

8. So sorry to hear that

I loved the book, Nickled and Dimed.

Fly onward to your next mission, brave spirit.

Well done 👏.

[2naSalit]

11. I really liked her!

RIP.

[Doc Sportello]

12. A courageous journalist

She could have taken the gravy train and had a career in Washington political coverage but instead shined a light on the forgotten in this country.

[Warpy]

13. Her voice will be sorely missed

since there were so few other journalists or anyone else who gave a shit about what so many people are going through I hope she recognized the faint praise of calling them "essential" when they kept the country running during the pandemic.

That book came out in 2011 and conditions were brutal then. 11 years later, many states still have that $7.25 Federal minimum wage and considering which states they are, that it is not going to budge until Congress makes them budge it.

[Brenda]

20. Crazy, ain't it?

Barbara was a true journalist. Today the word "journalist" is applied to anyone who says they are one on the internet, Youtube or Twitter for that matter.

$7.25 - there is no place, not even in the boondocks of the South where anyone can live a decent, healthy life on that.

[question everything]

37. In 2001. It started as an article at Harper's Magazine, ending as the first chapter of the book

It was written as a result of the 1996 welfare "reform" that Clinton had to sign after the demands by Gingrich House.

This was where I first read it.

[Aristus]

14. I've read nearly all of her books, and am a tremendous admirer.

This is a true blow to the social justice movement. She will be missed.

[AngryOldDem]

15. Her books should be required reading.

Godspeed, Ms, Ehrenreich.

[Wild blueberry]

16. A life well lived and a good writer

Rest in peace.

[ck4829]

17. RIP, Nickel and Dimed was an eye-opener

[Wounded Bear]

18. RIP...nt

[Hekate]

19. Cross gently, with our gratitude for your lifetime of work on behalf of humanity

[ShazzieB]

21. What a loss! 😔

I loved Nickel and Dimed, but my favorite book of hers was Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America in which she tore the whole "toxic positivity" movement a new one.

Here's a snippet from the Amazon description:

In this utterly original take on the American frame of mind, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the strange career of our sunny outlook from its origins as a marginal nineteenth-century healing technique to its enshrinement as a dominant, almost mandatory, cultural attitude. Evangelical mega-churches preach the good news that you only have to want something to get it, because God wants to "prosper" you. The medical profession prescribes positive thinking for its presumed health benefits. Academia has made room for new departments of "positive psychology" and the "science of happiness." Nowhere, though, has bright-siding taken firmer root than within the business community, where, as Ehrenreich shows, the refusal even to consider negative outcomes—like mortgage defaults—contributed directly to the current economic crisis.

I highly recommend this book.

[PatrickforB]

30. I read Bright Sided.

Positive thinking is BIG BIZ, as is prosperity Christianity.

[japple]

22. Barbara Ehrenreich has been a mover and shaker since the 1970s. She wrote for Ms Magazine and

I have followed her ever since. Bless you, Barbara for the light you shone in the darkness. You made a big difference.

[betsuni]

23. A real journalist.

[Evolve Dammit]

24. I will order "Nickel and Dimed." Thank you and may she rest in peace. We need voices now.

[Oldtimeralso]

25. RIP

To a great woman in search of truth for the common person

[leighbythesea2]

26. Oh no

Sad to hear this. I’ve reread her books a few times. Extremely impactful.

[ancianita]

27. I loved her, read all her books. She was a great light of social activism.

I'm so grateful for her life and journalism.

[riversedge]

28. I was aware of her books in Grad school many moons ago.. Many were required reading and I still

have them.

[PatrickforB]

29. Barbara Ehrenreich was a fine human being. Nickel and Dimed really opened my eyes, for sure.

May she rest in peace, enfolded in the perpetual light and love of the Divine.

[niyad]

32. Rest in power, my sister.

The first bookmof hers that I read was "Witches, Midwives, and Nurses" co-authored with Deirdre English, about how the traditional women healers were supplanted by the male (patriarchal) "scientific" medicine, and how that suppression affects "medical practice" today.

[sinkingfeeling]

33. R.I.P. Read and re-read your book.

[DBoon]

34. "Nickel and Dimed" was "The Other America" of our age

What Michael Harrington did in the early 1960s, Barbara Ehrenreich did for the new century

[Upthevibe]

35. swag...........

I and my then girlfriend read, "Nickel and Dimed," back when it first came out. We just devoured that book.

Without question, it's one of the best social justice books ever written.

I'm sorry to hear of her passing....R.I.P.

[question everything]

36. R.I.P. Before her Nickel and Dimed she used to have occasional essays at TIME magazine

and I loved reading them.

I was happy to meet her once when she gave a presentation and it was then, in 1993, that she suggested that since most pregnancies end before the women even know about them, that we should collect the used sanitary napkins and tampons and mail them to... I don't remember. I don't remember, at that time, who were the bad guys.

[area51]

38. Damn.

Cross gently.

[llmart]

39. One of my all time favorite authors.

I've read most of her books. She was an absolutely brilliant and learned author. The last book I read from her was "Natural Causes". Her approach to the aging process and dying mirrored exactly how I feel about all of it, so it was validating to me that I wasn't alone in my attitude towards too much medical intervention. Those of you that get and read the AARP magazine may remember that they interviewed her when that book came out. Once I read her take on it I just had to get and read the entire book. Briefly, she stated that she was 77 years old and was refusing to get all the tests that doctors are constantly recommending starting when you're 50. She said she felt like she had had a very good and full life, that she had already lived a long life and that she was not going to take any extraordinary measures or treatments to prolong her life if something should arise.

Her voice will certainly be missed by many.