When diagnosed with breast cancer, activist Barabara Ehrenreich led by example. She continues to write and assist her fellow men and women.
The true measure of an activist lies in their chosen causes and powers of persuasion, while mere mortals rank highest overcoming adversity. Within these parameters, celebrated author Barbara Ehrenreich has become a role model for conduct under crisis.
Ehrenreich is a well known columnist whose work has regularly appeared in numerous periodicals including The Atlantic Monthly, The Progressive, and Harper’s Magazine. She has been involved in the publication of nineteen novels, including the Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, which was nominated for a National Book Critic’s Award in 1989.
During the publication of her national bestseller Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy. In typical Ehrenreich style, she dove deeply into research about the issue and came out fighting mad. She was mad about detection, prevention, and insurance companies. She was mad about her own survival, her daughter’s future, and pink ribbons.
In 2001, Harper’s magazine published her essayed response “Welcome to Cancerland,” which became a National Magazine Award finalist. This first response has spurred an ensuing six years of activity for the social champion.
Nickel and Dimed, her hands-on expose of the lives of minimum wage workers, drew widespread acclaim for illuminating the daily obstacles of a growing, invisible demographic. Humanist magazine critic Joni Scott confessed “skepticism when she first approached the book, but left comparing the novel to the Jacob Riis expose How the Other Half Lives, an 1890 photo journal that revealed the living conditions in New York City tenements.” In closing, Scott suggests “the Ehrenreich book should be required reading for all corporate executives” (2001).
The 2005 sequel, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, explores the travails of job hunting on the middle class, white-collar plane. The undercover research she invested in preparation for this book led to her latest venture. In 2006, Ehrenreich founded United Professionals in an effort to provide a resource outlet for middle class workers struggling to survive in the current lean corporate world.
Ehrenreich devoted the early years of her life studying biology, eventually earning a Ph.D. Somewhere during the sixties her passions made a radical left turn from a physical science laboratory into the world of social sciences. Since her life-threatening diagnosis, Ehrenreich has published four books, established an organization to assist fellow workers, and continues to produce work on a variety of social issues.
From her website Ehrenreich admits, “Curiosity has kept pulling me in different directions.” She adds, “I cannot imagine doing anything other than what I do…I chose adventure and I’ve never for a moment regretted it.”
Her latest book is Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy about historical human celebration. The focus of the next project is, (surprise), the power of positive thinking.
