Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
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Book Summary Information
Editor: John BoweEditor: Marisa Bowe
Editor: Sabin Streeter
Editor: Daron Murphy
Editor: Rose Kernochan
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-08-21
ISBN: 0609807072
Number of pages: 688
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
Book Review: The modern update to Terkel's "Working"
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoy these type of books. I'm a sociology/psychology nut by nature so books like Gig are right up my alley. This is among my favorites for night time reading. I just read 4-5 stories before bed and feel like I've come away with a new perspective about a job or job field that I didn't have before picking this book up. It's very similar to a bathroom reader in that regard as it gives you quite a bit of material to span over multiple nights. Plus, I got tired of renewing the library's copy :). As a fan of Stud Terkel's Working, I was eager to see if any other books like it had been written but in a more modern format. Working was written largely based on the American workforce/lifestyle during the 1970's while Gig is a collection of tales from the 1990's of similar jobs/workers.
It's always an eye-opening experience to read about all of the jobs and to get them in their non sugar-coated form. You get the good and bad of each job and most of the interviewees seem to freely offer it to the Bowe's and Mr. Streeter. It's hard to give these books anything less than 4 stars and I enjoyed this one to the tune of 5 stars this time just because I was very excited that there was a more modern version of the oral working history of America.
The amount of work that goes into books like Gig I would imagine is the reason they don't come out but every 10-25 years. There's just such a huge amount of work, time, and effort into rounding everyone up over the course of months and getting them to tell their tale. There are always internet sites and talking to people in the field as well but to me its just not the same as having it all conveniently written down in one book. Of course Gig doesn't cover every possible job, but it sure does make you feel like you're getting a very wide and diversified prospective of what the modern American workforce looks like. Gig like Working, is a fascinating study of social science and sociology. If you like learning what is going on with other job fields or are curious about other job fields and how Americans feel about them, then this is without a doubt the book for you. It serves as a great vocational guide as well and if you like what you're reading in the book you can always go online and see how the field has changed, not changed, etc over the past 10-15 years. A must read for anyone curious about the life of many different and diverse American workers and their jobs!
-Travis S.
Summary of Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
?Amazing . . . a gem of a book that uses only the strength of the human voice to tell an American story -- sometimes dark, always fascinating.?-- USA Today
?The accounts are wonderfully revealing, with gritty and almost shockingly honest detail. For all their variety, they weave a cohesive, passion-filled story of what people bring to their work. It's an addictive read.?
-- Harvard Business Review's Best Business Books of 2000
?Keen, disturbing, and deeply felt . . . the stories in Gig deliver a more rousing political wallop than those in Working . . . remarkable and strangely moving.?
-- Susan Faludi, The Village Voice
?I love this book! It's surprising and entertaining and makes the world seem like a bigger and more interesting place. Gig manages to document everyday life and give pure narrative pleasure at the same time. One feels proud to live in the same country as the people in this book.?
-- Ira Glass, host of This American Life
?A fascinating compilation of what the American workforce has to say about itself.?
-- George Plimpton
?Eye-opening . . . more revealing than any theories a sociologist could concoct.?
-- The Industry Standard
?Entertaining, sobering, validating . . . Ordinary people discuss their jobs with extraordinary candor.?
-- US Weekly
?In the age of advanced spin, this book accomplishes a very rare thing. It actually lets workers speak for themselves. . . . The result makes for a fascinating read.?
-- Andrew Ross, director, American Studies Program at New York University
?Emotional and eye-opening, each compelling description offers insight about the job itself and, more important, an intimate view of a single human life.?
-- Austin Chronicle
?An engaging, humorous, revealing, and refreshingly human look at the bizarre, life-threatening, and delightfully humdrum exploits of everyone from sports heroes to sex workers.?
-- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Coercion, Ecstasy Club, and Media Virus
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