Amazon.com: Generation Debt: Anya Kamenetz: Books

Better Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before by Jean M. Twenge

(69) $11.20

Generation Debt: Take Control of Your Money--A How-to Guide by Carmen Wong Ulrich

(20) $10.36

The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke by Elizabeth Warren

(85)

Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit by James D. Scurlock

(31) $10.36

Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit by Robert D. Manning

(25)

› Explore similar items : Books (45) Movies & TV (2)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Surveying the economic realities facing today's 20- and 30-somethings, 24-four-old Kamenetz decides, "It's not too dramatic to say that the nation is abandoning its children." Thanks to skyrocketing tuition and changes in federal funding, college students are graduating with an average of almost $20,000 in loans at the same time that jobs have become scarcer, real wages have dropped and the cost of health care has soared. Is it any wonder that kids are boomeranging home and racking up credit card debt? Kamenetz, who first wrote about these issues for the Village Voice, intertwines an analytical overview of the new economic obstacles with interviews of the financially strapped and descriptions of her own experience struggling to make ends meet as a freelance journalist. Her book is livelier than Tamara Draut's similarly themed Strapped, but lighter in its analysis of law and policy. Most interestingly, Kamenetz documents how our perception of the crisis is shaped by self-centered boomers who have lost touch with their children's plight. More of a white paper than a guidebook, this volume doesn't offer under-40s much personal financial advice (that job is taken up by Gener@tion Debt, see review below). It does, however, make clear how imperative it is that we find solutions to these problems as quickly as possible. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
A new book tackles the 18-to-35-year-old generation's problems--those they face and those they create.Kamenetz believes the younger generation is hampered by the fact that salaries and job opportunities haven't kept up with drastically increasing costs of living. Because of the exorbitant cost of college, many young people can't afford to go, and those who do go graduate with huge debt. Graduates expect to pay off those loans once they get jobs, but entry-level jobs often come with low wages. The job prospects are even worse for those who don't finish or who don't go to college at all--some can't even afford living on their own, another drastically increased cost. The solution to these problems? Kamenetz makes a passionate argument for young people to take action, such as lobbying the government as a cohesive group and being practical and frugal about money matters.

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
My maternal grandparents' house is down a country road in what was once quiet, rural eastern North Carolina. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
crap jobs, student loan debt, student debt

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Social Security, United States, Generation Debt, San Francisco, New York City, Pell Grant, World War, New Deal, Sallie Mae, Great Depression, Higher Education Act, Santa Cruz, Air Force, Bureau of Labor Statistics, President George, Richard Florida, Wall Street

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats