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Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?: How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life Kindle Edition

4.0 out of 5 stars 58

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Labor lawyer and Europhile, Geohegan (Which Side Are You On?) makes a passionate case for the high-tax, regulation-heavy model of life on the Continent. Using Germany as a model, he argues the middle class is the real beneficiary of European social democracy--its members reap free education, free child care, free nursing home care, guaranteed vacation time, and generous unemployment payments--while their white-collar American counterparts struggle to pay for the same. "Europe is set up for the bourgeois," writes Geohegan. "America's a great place to buy kitty litter at Wal-Mart and relatively cheap gas. But it's not set up for me, a professional without a lot of money." While he's quick to acknowledge that critics seize on labor's costs and prominence as a potential path to the collapse of the system, he's convinced of the framework in place. The narrative unspools in a chatty, anecdotal style; it's jumpy, appealingly digressive, and winning, all the more so for being such an unabashed polemic that refuses to be resigned to the rising rate of inequality in the U.S.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Most diverting… [Geoghegan] has the great virtue of being witty and ironic―and to the point… A necessary primer.”
―Jurek Martin,
Financial Times

“Clever and immensely appealing.”
―Katha Pollitt,
The Nation

“All dissatisfied Americans, not just progressives, should read the book.”
―Jeremy Gantz,
Alternet

“A travelogue, self-discovery prose and business book all at once… written with humor and candor, making for an easy, fun read.”
―Courtney Crowder,
Chicago Tribune

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005OCJE56
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press; Reprint edition (October 4, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 620 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 354 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 58

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
58 global ratings

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