High Wire
The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families
Basic Books, 2008
Category:
Economics & Politics
Get the summary
Subscribe today and dramatically increase your business knowledge in your own time and at an affordable rate. Our summaries will update your skills, jump-start your career and put you ahead of the pack. Learn how to thrive in every aspect of your professional life.
getAbstract rating
| Overall |
|
(8)Applicability |
|
Innovation |
|
Style |
|
(9)
(6)
(7)| Level of Expertise |
|
(3)In this summary you will learn
- How life has become more unstable for all but the wealthiest Americans
- How your job, health and home are more at risk now than in the past
- Why Americans need to adopt a more cooperative view of society and share each other’s burdens
Why you should read High Wire
Peter Gosselin discusses real problems that American families face today, especially those of the working poor. However, he views the past nostalgically. Nostalgia can be comforting, as you retreat from an uncomfortable present to a better past. You imagine former times as simpler, richer and nobler than the reality with which you struggle each day. But people of the past faced problems, too, and those led them to make the choices that resulted in the current situation. Gosselin sincerely wishes to improve society. His perspective is progressive. Politically conservative readers may fear that his solution would turn more of the U.S. economy over to the control of politicians and bureaucrats, concentrating power and decision making into fewer hands. However, the book is a passionately written cry from the heart; if nothing else, it is a wake-up call. getAbstract recommends it to human resource personnel who are concerned about work-family balance and benefits, as well as to current-events junkies and observers of politics and the economy.
About the author
Peter Gosselin is a Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. He is also a visiting fellow at the Urban Institute. He has won the George Polk Award twice.
If you wish to purchase 20 or more copies of this title (not the summary, but the actual book), please contact us at info@getAbstract.com. Make sure you include the title of the book and your phone number.
getAbstract makes it easy for you to access the summary of High Wire any time or any place. Once registered, you can choose from a variety of download formats: PDF for your computer, BlackBerry, iPhone, Kindle, PDA or other handheld devices. You can even obtain the audio version of many of our summaries.
Subscribe today to gain access to this summary as well as many other compelling titles!