Working in the Shadows

What does it mean to work in the forgotten America where millions toil in the shadow of prosperity? To find out, award-winning journalist Gabriel Thompson spent a year working in the fields and the factories alongside America's invisible poor. The result is a moving and illuminating personal narrative--chosen by Timeas "must-read"-- that describes not only the backbreaking labor, minuscule wages, and difficult conditions faced by millions of citizens and immigrants but also their camaraderie and bravery. Working in the Shadowsis one of our finest frontline reports on the dark side of American affluence.

Gabriel Thompson is the author of There's No Jos Here and Calling All Radicals, and has written for New York, The Nation, the New York Times, and others. The recipient of the Richard J. Margolis Award, the Studs Terkel Media Award, and a collective Sidney Hillman Award, Thompson lives in Brooklyn, New York.