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Nomadland : surviving America in the twenty-first century / Jessica Bruder.
Lippincott Library HD6280 .B77 2017
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Bruder, Jessica, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Older people--Employment--United States.
- Older people.
- Older people--Employment.
- Van life.
- Recreational vehicle living.
- Working poor.
- Casual labor.
- Retirees--Employment.
- United States.
- Retirees--Employment--United States.
- Retirees.
- Retirement--Economic aspects--United States.
- Retirement.
- Retirement--Economic aspects.
- Casual labor--United States.
- Working poor--United States.
- Migrant labor--United States.
- Migrant labor.
- Recreational vehicle living--United States.
- Van life--United States.
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity.
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic Conditions.
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography.
- Local Subjects:
- Casual labor.
- Older people--Employment.
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity.
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic Conditions.
- Retirees--Employment--United States.
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography.
- United States.
- Physical Description:
- xiv, 273 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Other Title:
- Nomad land
- Place of Publication:
- New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2017]
- Summary:
- "From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon's CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." In a secondhand vehicle she christens "Van Halen," Jessica Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying her irrepressible protagonist, Linda May, and others, from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy--one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable "Earthship" home, they have not given up hope."--Jacket flap.
- Employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects, accompanying them from job to job in the dark underbelly of the American economy, while celebrating their resilience and creativity.
- Contents:
- Foreword
- The squeeze Inn
- The end
- Surviving America
- Escape plan
- Amazon town
- The gathering place
- The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous
- Halen
- Some unbeetable experiences
- The H word
- Homecoming
- Coda: The octopus in the coconut.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-273).
- ISBN:
- 9780393249316
- 039324931X
- OCLC:
- 971352344
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