Nomadland : : Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

Locations
Call Number: 331.398 Br, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Social Science / Socioeconomics / Bruder, Jessica
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	331.398 Br	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	331.398 Br	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	331.398 Br	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	331.398 Br	4-week checkout	Due 04-29-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Social Science / Socioeconomics / Bruder, Jessica	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Social Science / Socioeconomics / Bruder, Jessica	4-week checkout	Due 05-24-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Social Science / Socioeconomics / Bruder, Jessica	4-week checkout	Due 05-19-2024

Foreword -- The squeeze Inn -- The end -- Surviving America -- Escape plan -- Amazon town -- The gathering place -- The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous -- Halen -- Some unbeetable experiences -- The H word -- Homecoming -- Coda: The octopus in the coconut.
"From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon's CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." In a secondhand vehicle she christens "Van Halen," Jessica Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying her irrepressible protagonist, Linda May, and others, from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy--one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable "Earthship" home, they have not given up hope."--Jacket flap.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
CHOICE Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Table of Contents
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Fascinating, concerning, but missing info on race and gender submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 22, 2019, 3:15pm A solidly interesting and well-told book about how the economic crisis in the United States is affecting people, and in particular about the set of (mostly older) Americans who have weighed their options and become houseless. There is, apparently, a growing undercover movement of people who live in cars, vans, trailers, and RVs full time, stealth camping, working seasonal jobs (Amazon’s WorKampers are the people who bring you your holiday gifts while wearing their bodies to the bone and sleeping in trailers at night in parking lots with no heat), and moving when the police or park rangers shoo them along. As a group, they seem to see it as an active choice: giving up consumerism and debt for freedom… but there are concerning undertones about low wages, worker rights, health, and end of life options.

My three small quibbles with _Nomadland_ are first, that I just don’t love books where the author puts themselves into the story. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re writing a story, then research and write it. I genuinely don’t care about how or why you connect to it. That belongs in a forward or afterward, not in the body of the work. I will say that this might be the only book I’ve read where it makes a little bit of sense… Bruder discovers that the community she wants to learn about will not genuinely accept her until she becomes one of them, driving and sleeping in a van herself. Her journey to acquire, convert, and sleep in Halen (van Halen, get it?) does fit into the story. So I’m willing to cut her some slack, but in general, I still don’t want an author (her included) to be part of the book they are writing.

Second, Bruder gives two pages to noting, discussing, and theorizing about why the community of wanderers is almost completely White. In a book that is about how the mortgage crisis and US financial challenges (wages haven’t functionally risen since the 1970’s) have hit Americans, she puts basically no effort into finding out how people of color are dealing with this. It’s a giant, gaping hole. I understand that she was interested in those who are houseless and workamp, but surely she could have given SOME attention to the other 28% of Americans whose skin doesn’t look like hers.

Third and last, while there are a couple of small references to the numbers of women who are on the road, and even a comment or two about how great it is that they are independent, there is not even a nod to safety or harassment. I find it hard to believe that other than the general issue of fearing police will make a driver move, that women are not concerned and no one ever has anything bad happen. Let’s talk about that, too, shall we?

Bruder is committed to showing the vandweller community in a positive light, and I respect her for it. It was enlightening, and I’m both heartened that there is a community and concerned for our country. Worth the read, and I hope another edition will update with race and gender issues that are missing.

Heartbreaking and inspiring submitted by alleywater on June 17, 2021, 10:58am This book paints a heartbreaking and inspiring story of people who are defining their own future away from society's standards. Read this to get a unique look at a new way of life that is occurring in your very neighboorhood without you realizing it.

Better than the movie! submitted by TeacherN on June 28, 2021, 9:47am I enjoyed the movie based on this book, but the book and the movie are really two very different stories. The movie is about freedom and independence - playing into our American mythology of "rugged individualism," while the book examines a class of people, mostly older and white, forced by circumstance to the margins of society, living in vans and campers and working hard, physically-challenging, low-paying jobs. Don't let the movie fool you. For most people, living in a van or camper in your 60s and working at an Amazon warehouse is not freedom or paradise.

I agree with TeacherN - forget the movie! submitted by flemingj on June 28, 2021, 10:31am Way better book. Great for book clubs. So much to learn, think, and talk about. The number of houseless in our country will continue to grow. I'm certain we will need to make great societal changes to take care of these foks in the future.