The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt »

This unsettling book opens an important and troubling window on American society at the threshold of a new millennium. The authors are the leading experts on bankruptcy in the U.S., and this look at the high rate among the middle class (as opposed to the poor and near poor) provides a barometer of enormous social changes. It is written specifically with the general reader in mind.

Library Journal

Following up the authors' 1989 As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America, winner of the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, this book considers the middle class in terms of bankruptcy. The authors seek to discover why so many families are in economic trouble. They note that while Americans during the 1990s lived in a time of prolonged economic prosperity, there was, paradoxically, a 340 percent increase in the rate of personal economic failure between 1981 and 1999. Using a 1991 study of 16 federal bankruptcy districts in five states, the authors find that, like "proverbial canaries in the mine shaft," the bankruptcies highlight five key stresses that America's middle class experiences today: unemployment, credit card and personal debt, sickness and injury, family problems, and the high cost of home ownership. Clear in purpose, this important work is highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries.--Norman B. Hutcherson, Kern Cty. Lib., Bakersfield, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\