Nonfiction

Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America

Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America

  • Downloads：7265
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-08-16 10:20:58
  • Update Date：2025-09-07
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Eyal Press
  • ISBN：0374140189
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Reviews

James Beggarly ，

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook。 This book is a deep dive into the demanding， and damaging， work that most Americans realize needs to be done， but ultimately doesn’t want to think about and certainly doesn’t want to hear about。 The author focuses on prisons， not just the inmates， but specifically the guards and other workers who have to defer to the guards for their very safety。 Also the ever increasing drone program and what that does to people who watch and recommend these strikes fr Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook。 This book is a deep dive into the demanding， and damaging， work that most Americans realize needs to be done， but ultimately doesn’t want to think about and certainly doesn’t want to hear about。 The author focuses on prisons， not just the inmates， but specifically the guards and other workers who have to defer to the guards for their very safety。 Also the ever increasing drone program and what that does to people who watch and recommend these strikes from miles， and sometimes several countries， away。 The third focus is on the kill floors of meat packing plants。 This is all such eye opening reporting as the author takes you back in time and moves to the present to show you how we got here。 He also finds so many workers from the frontlines today who have fascinating and heartbreaking stories to share。 Powerful reporting throughout。 。。。more

Sara Broad ，

"Dirty Work" by Eyal Press is a nonfiction book comprised of descriptions about different sectors of employment in America that are unsafe， underpaid， and undervalued。 The first section of the book， which is about mental health clinicians and the care of mentally ill people in prison， is basically an extension of Press's 2016 New Yorker article。 It was interesting， and sad， to get a closer look into how impossible it is for people committed to helping mentally ill incarcerated people to actually "Dirty Work" by Eyal Press is a nonfiction book comprised of descriptions about different sectors of employment in America that are unsafe， underpaid， and undervalued。 The first section of the book， which is about mental health clinicians and the care of mentally ill people in prison， is basically an extension of Press's 2016 New Yorker article。 It was interesting， and sad， to get a closer look into how impossible it is for people committed to helping mentally ill incarcerated people to actually do their jobs， not to mention that prisoners are tortured。 The next section is about the people， a large percentage of whom are immigrant， working in the meatpacking industry。 The "dirtiness" of this job in terms of the everyday nature of this occupation has only been exacerbated by the huge risks that employees were forced to take as essential workers during the pandemic。 Many workers give up the already low wages earned in this job to take even lower wage jobs because of how brutal working in meatpacking plants is。 There is also a section of "Dirty Work" on drone operators working in the United States， an occupation that is often buried beneath our idea about who works in defense。 The final section of the book highlights the emotional and physical hardships faced by people working in the energy and tech industries， and while these jobs tend to be much higher paying than those discussed in previous sections of the book， they are just as harmful。 "Dirty Work" showcases the overall mistreatment， often allowed by shoddy laws， blind eyes， and corporate greed that is the standard in so many jobs in the United States。 This book is really powerful and should open up many discussions about how we can create a healthier， sustainable environment for all workers。 。。。more