go big or go home, literally

I stumbled upon this book review on salon.com this morning.

The book is called The Trap; the author is Daniel Brook.

In the tradition of Strapped (Tamara Draut) and Generation Debt (Anya Kamenetz), The Trap is another exploration of the economic realities of being a 20-something in the US today. Draut's book discussed the ballooning costs of living and the stagnation of wages, especially for entry-level toilers like yours truly. Kamenetz's book, as its title suggests, analyzed some of the implications of the crushing educational debt being shouldered by recent grads (also, incidentally, just like yours truly!).

According to Astra Taylor's review, Brook takes the analysis a step further, into political territory. His idea is that the system - the one described by Draut and Kamenetz - conspires to create a stark dichotomy in career and lifestyle choice for young Americans. We must choose between being saints or sellouts. There is nothing in between; we work for a pittance in something altruistic, or we decide we want houses, families, and middle class life and are forced to sell out and go corporate. It's a sad and alarming reality with incredible political and cultural consequences (the death of the middle class in the new century?), and its development can be traced back from the radicalism and egalitarianism of the Sixties to the conservative backlash that dismantled the progressive tax code, the healthcare system, and free or cheap education, among other things.

Anyway, I'm going to read this book, but it'll probably put me over the edge. Because this reality sucks.