Abstract
As a response to both Bill Clinton's introduction of the “Welfare Reform” putting an end to what he called “Welfare as we know it” and to the journalistic tendency of writing articles on the people far from the ground, Barbara Ehrenreich – of course a bit forced by her editor – decides to look for poverty and live it in everyday life assuming for that purpose to work as a low wage worker for a couple of months, i.e. trying to make ends meet with $6 or $7 per hour.
Barbara Ehrenreich, is a political essayist, who although is specialized in Chemistry and Physics (she owns a PhD), wrote a couple of essays dealing with societal and cultural issues. She can also be regarded as a journalist, she has already written for many well-known magazines and newspapers like The Nation, the New Republic, Time, and the New York Times Magazine.
At the beginning of her book, she specifies that she doubted herself of having the right profile for the job but with time the reader notes that she is discovering realities she couldn't have imagined before and seems always more motivated about her inquiry.
