Praise for Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich
“Ehrenreich is a keen observer of American culture.”
—Fortune
“Bait and Switch . . . resembles a novel by Evelyn Waugh, in which a middle-aged social critic with supersonic verbal skills, a Voltaire pretending to be a Candide, disappears into a zombie zone of career counselors, résumé writers, networking and job fairs.”
—Harper’s
“Insightful . . . her experiences are perversely fascinating, and Ehrenreich conveys them with humor and aplomb.”
—Business Week
“Wry, eloquent, hilarious.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Acerbic and astute.”
—Mother Jones
“Illuminating . . . fall’s smartest read.”
—Glamour
“Vivid and compelling.”
—Dissent
“The humorous and the melancholy are tightly entwined throughout the book.”
—Newsday
“Ehrenreich uncovers outposts . . . that most journalists would have trouble learning about. . . . What Ehrenreich has found is something that can’t be gleaned from reams of data about levels of middle-class income and unemployment.”
—Columbia Journalism Review
—The Seattle Times
“Skillfully dissects how job gurus deploy the language of self-actualization and magic thinking to cow their clients.”
—Elle
“Sharply observed and, perhaps more surprising, funny.”
—Common Wealth
“Laugh-out-loud funny.”
—The Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Being unemployed is devastating, and Ehrenreich does a sound job reminding us of the emotional toll.”
—Fast Company Magazine
“Ehrenreich’s description of the dull-eyed anomie of the white middle class is spot on.”
—The American Conservative
“Ehrenreich’s acerbic critiques are devastating. . . . She does a superb job of focusing the spotlight on a nether world of those without jobs or those profoundly shaken by their inability to find economic security.”
—The Charlotte Observer