Nickel and Dimed

This is the account of a journalist who goes undercover to live among the working poor.

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  • Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
  • Publisher: Picador, 256 pages

This is the account of a journalist who goes undercover to live among the working poor. She moves from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, chronicling poignant, eye-opening stints as a waitress, maid, nursing home aide and Walmart sales clerk.

Although the book first appeared in 2001, its themes are just as relevant today. The book has elicited a ton of debate and lots of controversy, with detractors accusing it of anti-capitalist themes. But it’s undeniable that the book sheds light on a too-often invisible cadre of service workers in our society. Raising kids in an affluent pocket of the country, I deemed it required reading in our family.

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Anne Kates Smith
Anne Kates Smith
Executive Editor, Kiplinger Personal Finance

Anne Kates Smith brings Wall Street to Main Street, with decades of experience covering investments and personal finance for real people trying to navigate fast-changing markets, preserve financial security or plan for the future. She oversees the magazine's investing coverage, authors Kiplinger’s biannual stock-market outlooks and writes the "Your Mind and Your Money" column, a take on behavioral finance and how investors can get out of their own way. Smith began her journalism career as a writer and columnist for USA Today. Prior to joining Kiplinger, she was a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report and a contributing columnist for TheStreet. Smith is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., the third-oldest college in America.