While many recent books have thoughtfully examined the plight of the working poor in America, none of the authors of these books is able to claim a working-class background, and there are associated methodological and ethical concerns raised when most of the explicatory writing on how poverty affects women and girls is done by educated, upper-class journalists. It was these concerns that prompted indie icon Michelle Tea--whose memoir The Chelsea Whistle details her own working-class roots in gritty Chelsea, Massachusetts--to collect these fierce, honest, tender essays written by women who can’t go home to the suburbs when their assignment is over. These wide-ranging essays cover everything from stealing and selling blood to make ends meet, to "jumping" class, how if time equals money then being poor means waiting, surviving and returning to the ghetto and how feminine identity is shaped by poverty. Contributors include Dorothy Allison, Diane Di Prima, Terri Griffith, Daisy Hernández, Frances Varian, Tara Hardy, Shawna Kenney, Siobhan Brooks, Terri Ryan, and more.
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About the Author
Michelle Tea is the author of The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America, the Lambda award–winning Valencia, and The Chelsea Whistle, and coeditor of Pills, Thrills, Chills, and Heartache. She lives in San Francisco.
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Daisy Hernández is the coeditor of the anthology Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, bitch magazine, Ms. magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, Fourth Genre, and Bellingham Review. A former editor at ColorLines, she's completing an MFA in fiction at the University of Miami.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By emily
Format:Paperback
In a society that addresses classism as little as it does michelle tea and the authors of this book do marvels. I did cartwheels reading essays about why its messed up to say things such as 'ghetto' and the offensiveness of white-trash themed parties. I would love everyone to read this book, or at least my middle-class and upper-class activist friends. Class too often gets added on as just one more -ism without ever really being addressed... this book shows that it needs to be, but not in mouthfulls of long feminist theory, but in wonderful first person narratives that are inspiring and thought provoking. Michelle Tea continues to by my sheroe. As do theauthors in this anthology. Read it :)
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By lindsay
Format:Paperback
Michelle Tea has carefully selected some of the most sparkling, witty and promising female writers, each peice masterfully demonstrates the varying scope of which class has effected their lives. These life testimonies, although often heart wrenching demonstrations of strength and determination are as full of real life as they are of crafted prose, startling style and hope. The writers offer their different stories not for sympathy or sadness, but a proclaimation of how it was, is and will be for generations of women growing up working class in America, fighting, loving and shouting to get their voices heard. Brilliant! A rare proclamation of what its like growing up poor and female, we should hear more like this...
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Erin Hanki
Format:Paperback
This is absolutely one of my favorite books- I've recommended it to everyone and so far no one's been disappointed, regardless of their gender or class background. Amazing book- raw and powerful, an inspiring collection of work. Many of the stories can be really painful or difficult to read, but altogether the collection leave a bold and positive impression of strength and beauty in unexpected (or overlooked) places. It's also a great introduction to a lot of kick-ass female writers that you might not be familiar with.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
without a doubt
I recommend this book without a doubt. I had to get it for one of my college classes and read it more than once. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Lindy Mathisen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Going back to my childhood.
Anyone who grew up struggling to make ends meet should read this book. Many of the stories had me transported back to my childhood in Lorain Ohio, in my own working class history. Read more
Published on February 27, 2008 by Steury
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book
Very well written I would recommend it to anyone interested in the expericences of working class females.
Published on July 9, 2007 by Psych Geek
4.0 out of 5 stars
A depressing look at the feminization of poverty
Edited by the working-class lesbian feminist author and activist, Michelle Tea, "Without a Net" powerfully documents the diverse lives of women living in poverty. Read more
Published on April 21, 2006 by wildflowerboy
5.0 out of 5 stars
I couldn't relate to all of this, but...
My parents divorced when I was 7 years old. My mother had primary custody. She was the first in her family to get a college education, even though she had to go back to... Read more
Published on September 21, 2005 by Feral Sirensong
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