Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do »

Gabriel Thompson writes for New York magazine, The Nation, the Brooklyn Rail, and In These Times. The author of There’s No José Here, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

An award-winning young investigative journalist goes undercover, living the life of an undocumented immigrant.

Publishers Weekly

Thompson (There’s No José Here) details working alongside undocumented workers in this stirring look at the bottom rung of America’s economic ladder. Thompson’s project feels initially like a gimmick; that this middle-class white American can go undercover in the lettuce fields of Arizona or the poultry plants of Alabama seems more stunt (or rehash of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed) than sound journalism. But the warmth with which he describes his co-workers and the heartbreaking descriptions of the demanding, degrading, and low-paying jobs quickly pull the reader in. Gimmick or no, the author pushes his body and his patience to the limits, all the while deferring attention to the true heroes: his co-workers, whose dignity, perseverance, physical endurance, and manual skill are no less admirable for being born of sheer necessity. What emerges are not tales of downtrodden migrants but of clever hands and clever minds forced into repetitive and dangerous labor without legal protections. Thompson excels at putting a human face on individuals and situations alternately ignored and vilified. (Feb.)

Pt. 1 Salad Days (January-March) Yuma, Arizona 1

Pt. 2 Speaking Quiche in the Heart of Dixie (June-August): Russellville, Alabama 97

Pt. 3 Flowers and Food (October-December): New York, New York 217

Conclusion 287

Notes 293

Acknowledgments 297