57th Street Books
1301 E 57th St
773.684.1300
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Adam Shepard, Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, & the Search for the American Dream
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Tuesday Nov 18, 2008 (6pm)
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A rebuttal to Barbara Ehrenreich's excellent Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch — which trace the "futile" pursuit of the American Dream — Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, & the Search for the American Dream follows author Adam Shepard as he attempts to prove that financial success is attainable for anyone willing to work hard. Leaving behind the obvious advantages of his contacts, credit history, and college diploma, Shepard eventually works his way up from a hard-knocks homeless shelter to a fairly comfortable existence. The book's account of rugged individualism and can-do attitude is admittedly fascinating, but readers are often left wondering at the less-than-evident benefits of Shepard's inescapable privileges.
