Lisa Dodson worked as a union activist, a nurse, and the director of the Division of Women's Health for the State of Massachusetts before becoming a professor of sociology at Boston College. In this hard-hitting book, she looks at middle-class and lower-income families "living on an economic fault-line." Many of these people have jobs but are still unable to afford the basics — transportation, rent, groceries, fuel, and health care. While CEOs are making more money than ever, these men and women are one-step away from disaster and must make difficult choices every day on what to give up in order to pay their bills. Dodson does a remarkable job conveying the sense of deep unfairness that pervades the feelings of these individuals who are paid less than they need to live.
While the majority of employers continue to cling tenaciously to the idol of bottom-line profitability, some middle-class managers and professionals are saddened by the injustice of the system and have decided to break the rules to help out wage-poor workers who are in financial trouble. They follow their consciences and agree with Martin Luther King, Jr., who said a few days before his murder: "It is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis . . . getting part-time income."
Dodson presents accounts of teachers, managers, health care professionals, and supervisors who have put the needs of the working poor and their families above their own security and business-as-usual. It is inspiring to read about these compassionate people and their empathy for those who are struggling against all odds to hold things together and to provide for their families.
