Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich is the bestselling author of several books, including Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch, Bright-sided, This Land Is Their Land, Dancing In The Streets, and Blood Rites. A frequent contributor to Harper's and The Nation, she has also been a columnist at The New York Times and Time magazine.“A simply brilliant, hilarious satirist.”—The Baltimore Sun“It would be hard to find a wittier, more insightful guide to the last three decades than Ehrenreich. Arguing with her is part of the pleasure of reading her.”—Laura Shapiro, Newsweek
Barbara Ehrenreich
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Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich--Audiobook Excerpt
Listen to this audiobook excerpt and hear the introduction from Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America, a sharp-witted knockdown of America's love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism.
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Barbara Ehrenreich
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Q & A
Where are you from?
Butte, Montana
Who are your favorite periodicals?
I read the New York Times and the Washington Post every day, and subscribe to Harper's, the New Yorker, The Nation, The Progressive, Scientific American and Discover. The last two are the ones I usually read first.
Which book/books have had the biggest influence on your writing?
Ah, so many of them! As a child, I read all the classics - Sir Walter Scott, Poe, Bullfinchvë compulsively, then in my teens moved on to Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, as well as tons of sci fi. All these gave me an ear for the language and a sense of all the doors that can be opened with it.
Which teacher had the biggest impact on your life?
Maybe Mr. Conway in 10th grade Chemistry (Lowell High School, Massachusetts), for insisting that if we live in this world, we should know it works. Or maybe Mr. Trett in high school English (University High School, Los Angeles), for teaching me how to write an essay.
What are your hobbies and outside interests?
I love kayaking when I can get down to the Florida Keys. I know where to find sharks and I just sit there perfectly still till I see that dorsal fin cutting through the water, then I pursue it. Best of all is coming across a dolphin or pod of them. They toy with you - jumping up on one side of the kayak, then popping under you to come up on the other side.
What is the single best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
My dad said, "Always ask why."
What is something most people don't know about you?
I'm very strong, especially quads, calves, lats and triceps.
What are your secret indulgences?
Dogfish Head 90-minute infused India Pale Ale and historical series on TV - especially "Rome."
Where do you write?
At home, where I can wear sweatpants all day and take housecleaning breaks.
Books by the Author
Nickel and Dimed
Barbara Ehrenreich
Picador
Picador
Our sharpest and most original social critic goes "undercover" as an unskilled worker to reveal the dark side of American prosperity.
Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level...
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Bright-sided
Barbara Ehrenreich
Picador
Picador
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Americans are a "positive" people -- cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: This is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament,...
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This Land Is Their Land
Barbara Ehrenreich
Henry Holt and Co.
Holt Paperbacks
America in the 'aughts—hilariously skewered, brilliantly dissected, and darkly diagnosed by one of the country's most prominent social critics
Now in paperback, Barbara Ehrenreich's...
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Dancing in the Streets
Barbara Ehrenreich
Henry Holt and Co.
Holt Paperbacks
"Fascinating . . . An admirably lucid, level-headed history of outbreaks of joy from Dionysus to the Grateful Dead."—Terry Eagleton, The Nation
Widely praised as "impressive"...
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Bait and Switch
Barbara Ehrenreich
Henry Holt and Co.
Holt Paperbacks
The New York Times bestselling investigation into white-collar unemployment from "our premier reporter of the underside of capitalism"—The New York Times Book Review
Americans'...
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