Barbara Ehrenreich

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

Barbara Ehrenreich
Born	August 26, 1941 (1941-08-26) (age 67) Butte, Montana
Occupation	social critic, journalist, author, activist
Genres	nonfiction, investigative journalism

Barbara Ehrenreich (born August 26, 1941, in Butte, Montana) is an American feminist, democratic socialist, sociologist and political activist. She is a widely read columnist and essayist, and the author of nearly 20 books.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Books 2.1 Non-fiction 2.2 Fiction 3 Essays 4 Translations 5 References 6 External links

Biography

Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Alexander. Her father was a copper miner who went on to study at Carnegie Mellon University and who eventually became an executive at the Gillette Corporation. Ehrenreich studied physics at Reed College, graduating in 1963. Her senior thesis was entitled Electrochemical oscillations of the silicon anode. In 1968, she received a Ph.D in Cell biology from Rockefeller University.

Citing her interest in social change,^[1] she opted for political activism instead of pursuing a scientific career. She met her first husband, John Ehrenreich, during an anti-war activism campaign in New York City.

In 1970, her first child, Rosa (now Rosa Brooks), was born. Her second child, Benjamin, was born in 1972. Barbara and John divorced and in 1983 she married Gary Stevenson, a warehouse employee who later became a union organizer. She divorced Stevenson in the early 1990s.

From 1991 to 1997, Ehrenreich was a regular columnist for Time magazine. Currently, she contributes regularly to The Progressive. Ehrenreich has also written for the New York Times, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Monthly, Ms, The New Republic, Z Magazine, In These Times, Salon.com, and other publications.

In 1998, the American Humanist Association named her the Humanist of the Year.

In 1998 and 2000, she taught essay writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2004, Ehrenreich wrote a month-long guest column for the New York Times while regular columnist Thomas Friedman was on leave and she was invited to stay on as a columnist. She declined, saying that she preferred to spend her time more on long-term activities, such as book-writing.

Ehrenreich was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after the release of her book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. In her article "Welcome to Cancerland," published in the November 2001 issue of Harper's Magazine, she describes her breast cancer experience and debates the medical industry's problems with the issue of breast cancer.

In 2006, Ehrenreich founded United Professionals, an organization described as "a nonprofit, partisan membership organization for white-collar workers, regardless of profession or employment status. We reach out to all unemployed, underemployed, and anxiously employed workers — people who bought the American dream that education and credentials could lead to a secure middle class life, but now find their lives disrupted by forces beyond their control."^[2]

Ehrenreich is currently an honorary co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. She also serves on the NORML Board of Directors and The Nation's Editorial Board.

In February 2008, Ehrenreich expressed support for Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, writing in her blog:

There’s no mystery about the direction in which Obama might take us: He’s written a breathtakingly honest autobiography; he has a long legislative history, and now, a meaty economic program. // We, perhaps white people especially, look to him for atonement and redemption. All of us, of whatever race, want a fresh start. That's what "change" means right now: Get us out of here!^[3]

Books

Non-fiction

• The Uptake, Storage, and Intracellular Hydrolysis of Carbohydrates by Macrophages (with Zanvil Cohn) (1969)
• Long March, Short Spring the Student Uprising at Home and Abroad (with John Ehrenreich)(1969)
• The American Health Empire: Power, Profits, and Politics (with John Ehrenreich and Health PAC)(1971)
• Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (with Deirdre English) (1972)
• Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness (with Deirdre English) (1973)
• For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts' Advice to Women (with Deirdre English) (1978)
• Women in the Global Factory (1983)
• Re-Making Love: The Feminization of Sex (with Elizabeth Hess and Gloria Jacobs) (1986)
• The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (1983)
• The Mean Season (with Fred L. Block, Richard A. Cloward, and Frances Fox Piven) (1987)
• Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class (1989)
• The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (1990)
• Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War (1997)
• The Snarling Citizen: Essays (1995)
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America (2001)
• Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy (ed., with Arlie Hochschild) (2003)
• Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (2005)
• Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy (2007)
• This Land is Their Land: Reports From a Divided Nation (2008)

Fiction

• Kipper's Game (1993)

Essays

• In Defense of Talk Shows (1995 [TIME Magazine, December 4, 1995])
• "How 'Natural' Is Rape? Despite a Daffy New Theory, It's Not Just a Guy in Touch with His Inner Caveman," Time, January 31, 2000.
• Welcome to Cancerland (2001 National Magazine Award finalist)
• A New Counterterrorism Strategy: Feminism (2005 [AlterNet])
• The Charge: Gynocide investigative journalism about the Dalkon Shield in the third world. Mother Jones ([1])
• Fight for Your Right to Party (2006 [TIME Magazine, December 18, 2006])
• My Unwitting Role in Acts of Torture February 22, 2009, Guardian/UK

Translations

German:

• Die Herzen der Männer, 1984
• Hexen, Hebammen und Krankenschwestern, 1987
• Gesprengte Fesseln, 1988
• Angst vor dem Absturz, 1994
• Blutrituale, 1999
• Arbeit poor. Unterwegs in der Dienstleistungsgesellschaft, 2001

Finnish:

• Nälkäpalkalla (Nickel and Dimed), 2003
• Petetty keskiluokka (Bait and Switch), 2006

French:

• L'Amérique pauvre: Comment ne pas survivre en travaillant, 2005

Hebrew:

• נשים בקו-הייצור העולמי, 1987.
• כלכלה בגרוש: איך (לא) להצליח באמריקה, 2004.
• האישה הגלובלית: מטפלות, עוזרות ועובדות מין בכלכלה החדשה, 2006.

Italian:

• Riti di sangue, 1998

Spanish:

• Por cuatro duros: Cómo (no) apañárselas en Estados Unidos, 2003

Swedish:

• Det manliga hjärtat: revolten mot försörjarrollen, 1984
• Barskrapad: konsten att hanka sig fram, 2002

Portuguese:

• Ritos de Sangue: Um estudo sobre as origens da guerra, 2000
• Salário de Pobreza: Como (não) sobreviver na América, 2004

Japanese:

• われらの生涯の最悪の年 / バーバラ・エーレンライク 著 ; 中村輝子 訳. -- 晶文社, 1992.
• 「中流」という階級 / バーバラ・エーレンライク著 ; 中江桂子訳. -- 晶文社, 1995
• ニッケル・アンド・ダイムド : アメリカ下流社会の現実 / バーバラ・エーレンライク著 ; 曽田和子訳. -- 東洋経済新報社, 2006
• 捨てられるホワイトカラー : 格差社会アメリカで仕事を探すということ / バーバラ・エーレンライク著 ; 曽田和子訳. -- 東洋経済新報社, 2007

Thai:

• คำให้การของคนเปื้อนเหงื่อ (Nickel and Dimed), 2006

References

1. ^ "Notable Writer: Barbara Ehrenreich". Literary Nonfiction at the University of Oregon. http://lnf.uoregon.edu/notable/ehrenreich.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-04. 
2. ^ "About United Professionals". United Professionals. http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/about/. Retrieved on 2008-10-04. 
3. ^ "Unstoppable Obama" February 14, 2008

External links

• Official website
• Barbara's blog
• [2] Dancing in the Streets reviews at Metacritic
• Articles by Barbara Ehrenreich on Alternet
• Booknotes interview with Ehrenreich on Fear of Falling, October 8, 1989.
• 3-hour interview on CSPAN's "In-Depth" series.
• [3]Quotations
• [4] More quotations
• [5] United Professionals
• VIDEO: Barbara Ehrenreich - This Land Is Their Land: Reports From a Divided Nation, July 16, 2008, talk at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, from her recent book tour.
• Interview on Humankind public radio show