Squeezed : why our families can't afford America / Alissa Quart.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-295) and index.

Introduction -- Inconceivable : pregnant and squeezed -- Hyper-educated and poor -- Extreme day care : the deep cost of American work -- Outclassed : life at the bottom of the top -- The nanny's struggle -- Uber dads : moonlighting in the gig economy -- The second act industry : or the midlife do-over myth -- Squeezed houses -- The rise of 1 percent television -- Squeezed by the robots -- Conclusion : the secret life of inequality.

"Families today are squeezed on every side--from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours. Many realize that attaining the standard of living their parents managed has become impossible. Alissa Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, examines the lives of many middle class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children. Through gripping firsthand storytelling, Quart shows how our country has failed its families. Her subjects--from professors to lawyers to caregivers to nurses--have been wrung out by a system that doesn't support them, and enriches only a tiny elite. Interlacing her own experience with close up reporting on families that are just getting by, Quart reveals parenthood itself to be financially overwhelming, except for the wealthiest. She offers real solutions to these problems, including outlining necessary policy shifts, as well as detailing the DIY tactics some families are already putting into motion, and argues for the cultural reevaluation of parenthood and caregiving as truly valuable, not only emotionally but professionally and politically."--Dust jacket