{"product_id":"9781770563650","title":"The Trouble with Brunch: Work, Class and the Pursuit of Leisure","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat do your Eggs Benedict say about your notions of class?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEvery weekend, in cities around the world, bleary-eyed diners wait in line to be served overpriced, increasingly outré food by hungover waitstaff. For some, the ritual we call brunch is a beloved pastime; for others, a bedeviling waste of time. But what does its popularity say about shifting attitudes towards social status and leisure? In some ways, brunch and other forms of conspicuous consumption have blinded us to ever-more-precarious employment conditions. For award-winning writer and urbanist Shawn Micallef, brunch is a way to look more closely at the nature of work itself and a catalyst for solidarity among the so-called creative class.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrawing on theories from Thorstein Veblen to Richard Florida, Micallef traces his own journey from the rust belt to a cosmopolitan city where the evolving middle class he joined was oblivious to its own instability and insularity.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Trouble with Brunch \u003c\/i\u003eis a provocative analysis of foodie obsession and status anxiety, but it's also a call to reset our class consciousness. The real trouble with brunch isn't so much bad service and outsized portions of bacon, it's that brunch could be so much more. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e Praise for Shawn Micallef:\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘As Toronto grows into a more mature, more compelling city, a new group of non-academic, street-smart urbanists has emerged to appreciate it – with-it young writers, architects and men and women about town who love big cities and see things in Toronto that most of us miss. Shawn Micallef is one of the sharpest of this sharp-eyed breed.’\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e– \u003ci\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘A smart and intimate guide to the city that makes you feel like an insider from start to finish.’\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e– Douglas Coupland [on \u003ci\u003eStroll\u003c\/i\u003e]\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Coach House Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47135258968304,"sku":"9781770563650","price":9.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781770563650_p0.jpg?v=1763706709","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781770563650","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}