{"product_id":"2940169484717","title":"Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eNickel and Dimed\u003c\/i\u003e goes back undercover to do for America's ailing middle class what she did for the working poor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBarbara Ehrenreich's \u003ci\u003eNickel and Dimed\u003c\/i\u003e explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in\u003ci\u003eBait and Switch\u003c\/i\u003e, she enters another hidden realm of the economyamp;mdash;the world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible resume of a professional \"in transition,\" attempts to land a \"middle class job\" undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then begins trawling a series of EST-like \"boot camps,\" job fairs, \"networking events,\" and evangelical job-search \"ministries.\" She gets an \"image makeover\" to prepare her for the corporate world and works hard to project the \"winning attitude\" recommended for a successful job search. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured and, again and again, rejected.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBait and Switch\u003c\/i\u003e highlights the people who've done everything rightamp;mdash;gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive resumesamp;mdash;yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their \"surplus\" employeesamp;mdash;plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job-searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for the new disposable workers-and little security even for those who have jobs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike the now classic \u003ci\u003eNickel and Dimed\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBait and Switch\u003c\/i\u003e is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing expose of economic cruelty where we least expect it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Macmillan Audio production.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Macmillan Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47097979207920,"sku":"2940169484717","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169484717_p0.jpg?v=1763684088","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169484717","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}