Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 144
•
Trim: 6½ x 9¾
978-1-4422-0196-5 • Hardback • December 2009 • $66.00 • (£51.00)
978-1-4422-0197-2 • eBook • December 2009 • $62.50 • (£48.00)
Peter D. McClelland is emeritus professor of economics at Cornell University and the author and editor of numerous books, including The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next, The American Search for Economic Justice, and Crisis in the Making; The Political Economy of New York State since 1945. Peter Tobin is a Ph.D. candidate in engineering and applied science at Yale University.
Introduction
Chapter 1: Problems of Definition
Chapter 2: Standard of Living
Chapter 3: Financial Security
Chapter 4: Mobility
Chapter 5: Education and Mobility
Chapter 6: The Future: Aggregate Growth
Chapter 7: The Future: Distribution
Chapter 8: Fiscal Constraints
Conclusion
Scratch at the surface of the myriad economic diagrams, and the picture that emerges is far from dry. . . . McClelland and Tobin argue, with an abundance of caution, that data such as these put the very concept of a vibrant American dream in jeopardy. . . . [This book] should make it onto the required reading lists of the country's economic and anti-poverty policy-makers.
— The American Prospect
This timely book makes accessible to the general public statistical data on changes in income distribution in the US from 1947 to the first decade of this century, and it documents the percentage decline in the income and wages among the poorest 20 percent of the population over this period. . . . Highly recommended. General readers; students at all levels; faculty, researchers, and professionals.
— Choice Reviews
This book sounds an alarm that needs to be heard in the halls of Congress and across the nation. American Dream Dying tells us that the least fortunate citizens are at risk for losing what little they have, perhaps never to be recovered. We cannot afford to ignore this diagnosis.
— Katherine Newman, Princeton University