Reviews

"Brilliant social analysis and intellectual history, quite possibly the best on the subject since Tocqueville's."-- "Chicago Tribune""Important, invaluable, controversial ... a major accomplishment .... Fiercely lucid and provocative, "Fear of Falling" is as much a book of the late 1980's as Daniel Bell's "The End of Ideology" or David Reisman's The Lonely Crowd were books of the 1950's" --" Los Angeles Times Book Review ""Rich and politically provocative ... Ehrenreich's most ambitious and impressive book" --" Philadelphia Inquirer""Her juicy arguments are a tonic .... It would be hard to find a wittier, more insightful guide to the last three decades than Ehrenreich. Arguing with her is part of the pleasure" "-- Newsweek ""Deeply pleasurable because of its splendid writing and telling detail."--" Boston Globe""Shrewd, readable, and plainspoken""--The New Yorker"

Ehrenreich charges that the U.S. middle class (especially professionals) has retreated from liberalism to a meaner, more selfish outlook. Within this shift, she claims, the New Right successfully waged a spurious, sloganeering campaign asserting that liberalism represents the interests of a narrow elite. In an analysis that should be a starting point for future debate, Ehrenreich, author of six books and columnist for Mother Jones and Ms. , exposes many myths and shibboleths, among them the media's ``discovery'' of an alleged general rightward drift, the supposed hedonism of yuppies and the notion that most hardhats are conservatives. Faulting liberals' ``shameful silence'' on Reagan's economic and social policies, she urges the middle class to join America's working-class majority in an effort to redistribute wealth and power downward to those who need it most. (Aug.)