Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and Its Poisonous Consequences

The inequality compendium hailed by Knight-Ridder as a "must-read for everyone who hopes to see equal opportunity restored to its rightful place in the American dream." "Astonishing as it seems, scarcely anyone in official Washington seems to be troubled by a gap between rich and poor that is greater than it has been in half a century--and greater than that of any other Western nation today."--from the foreword by Bill Moyers The critically acclaimed "Inequality Matters" found a wide and appreciative audience among those who see growing inequality as a "toxic state of affairs" ("Sojourners") that imperils the health of the United States. Inequality is, many believe, the single most important domestic issue we face. "Inequality Matters" includes a range of progressives, activists, writers, and academics--among them Barbara Ehrenreich, Christopher Jencks, Meizhu Lui, David Cay Johnston, and Jim Wallis--whose nuanced and sharply argued essays do much to illuminate the growing divergence between the haves and the can't haves. Called "excellent" by the "New York Review of Books, Inequality Matters" paints a readable and crucial portrait of the widening wealth and opportunity gaps while we drift, as Lardner writes, "toward a Third World-like distribution of our riches."