The Insecure American

The Insecure American turned out to be a revelation-by turns alarming, depressing and laugh-out-loud amusing.-Eugene Robinson, Washington PostDuring the last half century, America morphed almost seamlessly from 'the Age of Anxiety' into 'the Age of Insecurity'. The threat of nuclear annihilation hovered ominously as a Damoclean sword, and while there are residues-that anxiety has been substantially replaced by a gnawing sense of more local insecurity-from employment and healthcare uncertainty, to expanding gated communities and food-supply woes. This is as rich a collection as one can find that provides compelling accounts for how and why this has happened.-Troy Duster, Director of the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge at NYUIf ever the United States was a country of shared prosperity, it no longer answers to that description. The consequences for American families, particularly those at the bottom of the social structure, but increasingly in the middle class as well, have been devastating to their pocketbooks, their confidence, and the hope that their children will be able to make it in the world they are inheriting. This distinguished group of anthropologists trains an ethnographic lens on the impact of growing insecurity on the social fabric of the nation. Concerned citizens, fellow social scientists, students, and policy makers should pay attention to their message.-Katherine Newman, Princeton University, co-author of The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America