The Trap - Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America (Paperback, First)

"Takes dead aim at the conservative economic consensus that has dominated U.S. politics . . . Biting and necessary."--"The American Prospect"

In this witty and revealing polemic, journalist Daniel Brook argues that the exploding income gap--a product of the conservative ascendance--is systematically dismantling the American dream, as debt-laden, well-educated young people are torn between their passions and the pressure to earn six-figure incomes.

Rising education, housing, and health-care costs have made it virtually impossible for all but the corporate elite to enjoy what were once considered middle-class comforts. Thousands are afflicted with a wrenching choice: take up residence on America's financial and social margins or sell out. From the activist who works to give others a living wage but isn't paid one himself, to the universal health-care advocate who becomes a management consultant for Big Pharma, Brook presents a damning indictment of the economic and political landscape that traps young Americans. Daniel Brook is a journalist whose writing has appeared in "Harper's," "Dissent," "The San Francisco Chronicle," and "The Boston Globe," among other publications. Brook was a finalist in the 2003 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and won the 2000 "Rolling Stone" College Journalist Competition while a student at Yale. He lives in Philadelphia. In this provocative, witty, and revealing polemic, Daniel Brook argues that the exploding income gap--a product of the conservative ascendance--is systematically dismantling the American dream, as debt-laden, well-educated young people are torn between their passions and the pressure to earn six-figure incomes.
Rising education, housing, and health-care costs have made it virtually impossible for all but the corporate elite to enjoy what were once considered middle-class comforts. Thousands are afflicted with a wrenching choice: take up residence on America's financial and social margins or sell out. And it's not just impoverished teachers and social workers, struggling to pay their rent, who are hurt. From the activist who works to give others a living wage but isn't paid one himself, to the universal health-care advocate who becomes a management consultant for Big Pharma, Brook presents a damning indictment of the economic and political landscape that traps young Americans. When the best and the brightest cannot afford to serve the public good, Brook asks, what are we selling out: an individual's career, or the very promise of American democracy? "Daniel Brook has written a searing indictment of an unequal America in which anxiety rules and even idealists sell their souls to the highest bidder. This book is funny, smart, and compulsively readable, but most of all it is terrifying."--David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture" and "The Moral Center" "[Brook] makes a compelling argument that the protection of intellectual integrity provided by tenure has been lost in a marketplace of adjuncts. Supporting the book's principal concern--the death of public service as a viable career path--Brook observes that programs like Teach for America emphasize their one- or two-year commitment periods, implying that high-achieving college graduates will still have time for their 'real, ' more lucrative jobs, where they can make a return on their 'capital investment' . . . Brook makes a timely contribution by offering [young Americans] a rallying cry, a community identity, and an unapologetically liberal agenda. Rather than merely mourning the New Deal, he suggests that perhaps it is time to forge a new one."--Sandra Beasley, "The American Scholar
""In this new book subtitled "Selling Out to Stay Afloat in a Winner-Take-All America, " Brook crafts an interesting cultural commentary on 20-somethings that have given up on their dreams. With mounting student loan debts, rising costs of living and a dwindling middle class, he examines how we got to be a generation of corporate monkeys that have traded in jobs in public service or creative fields. Definitely liberal-minded, this is an enlightening, relatable read."--"The Allentown Morning Call
""Daniel Brook has written a searing indictment of an unequal America in which anxiety rules and even idealists sell their souls to the highest bidder. This book is funny, smart, and compulsively readable, but most of all it is terrifying."--David Callahan, author of "The Cheating Culture" and "The Moral Center"
""The Trap" shows how the decimation of the middle class is making the most meaningful kind of work unsustainable. When jobs that are altruistic and creative are a sure ticket to penury, the whole society loses. This is an incisive, important, consciousness-raising book that should inspire professionals to understand their financial insecurity as the system's failure, not their own--and to demand change."--Michelle Goldberg, author of "Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
""Daniel Brook makes a truly powerful case against the hyperindividualism rotting away at the foundations of our society. He shows, with data and also with one story after another, what a tough time it is to be coming up in America. If you know someone (maybe yourself) who feels trapped in a job that doesn't really reflect their hopes and dreams, then this book will help explain how it happened, and how, together, we might be able to change it."--Bill McKibben, author of "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
""Daniel Brook's "The Trap" will transform the way we think and talk about America's most pressing economic and social problem, growing income inequality. It's a terrific book."--Robert H. Frank, author of "The Economic Naturalist" and "The Winner Take All Society""" "We let inequality call itself 'freedom, ' when freedom is precisely what inequality is costing us. Daniel Brook's "The Trap" is a powerful corrective to this enormous mistake."--Benjamin Kunkel, author of "Indecision""" "Twenty-something journalist Brook sees the best minds of his generation scrivening away as corporate lawyers and accountants, and he's furious about it. His fresh and striking pay-gap polemic laments the plight of 'educated, idealistic young people' who must choose whether 'to be a sellout or a saint'--that is, whether to take a lucrative corporate job or to eke out a pauper's existence in creative or nonprofit work. 'The new economic realities, ' Brook writes, 'are shaping people's lives, closing off certain career and lifestyle options. They are reducing freedom.' Brook marshals facts and interviews to make his case for 'more egalitarian economic policies.' Decrying recent economic shifts that have widened the chasm between private and public sector employment, he skewers centrist 'New Democrats' as well as usual-suspects such as William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan . . . many readers will wince in recognition of their work/life compromises. 'Corporate America is riddled with secret dissenters, ' Brook notes; he does a real service asking why it must be this way."--"Publishers Weekly"""

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