Second Class

How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women

By: Batya Ungar-Sargon

Narrated by: Batya Ungar-Sargon

Second Class is the most important book you will read all year. A political realignment is coming, and it’s my hope that the end result will work in favor of our all-too-neglected American working class. When that realignment comes, Batya and her book will help lead the way.—Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind

Who is the American working class? Do they still have a fair shot at the American Dream? What do they think about their chances to secure the hallmarks of a middle-class life?

While writing this book, Batya Ungar-Sargon visited states across the nation to speak with members of the American working-class fighting tooth and nail to survive. In Second Class, working-class Americans of all races, political orientations, and occupations share their stories—cleaning ladies, health care aides, cops, truck drivers, fast food workers, electricians, and more. In their own words, these working-class Americans explain the struggles and triumphs of their increasingly precarious lives—as well as what policies they think would improve them. Second Class combines deep reporting with a look at the data and expert opinion on America’s emergent class divide, in which the most basic elements of a secure and stable life are increasingly out of reach for those without a college education.

America has broken its contract with its laboring class. So, how do we get back to the American Dream? How do we once again become the land of opportunity, the promised land where hard work and commitment to family are enough to protect you from poverty? It’s not that hard actually. All it would take, as this book illustrates, is for those in power to once again respect the dignity of work—and the American worker.

©2024 Batya Ungar-Sargon (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Non Partisan, Thoughtful & Curiosity-Driven Look at America’s Lower Middle Class

I loved this straight-forward, uncomplicated account of the struggles facing today’s working poor; and the equally straight-forward, uncomplicated solutions. I found it particularly interesting that the hurdles and their solutions crossed ethnic, racial, religious, and partisan lines. Their outlooks and shared struggles had so much in common with each other. The key takeaway is that most don’t have the luxury to engage in extremist politics on either side. Neither helps them. Should be required reading for all entering politics.

Every American should read this book

As a blue collar working class family, this whole book was spot on. I’ve been a stay at home mom for 11 years and my husband went from the military to the trades through a union. These are the things we talk about all the time.

The Working Class Deserves Better

As someone who grew up in and is still in the working class, I learned nothing new in this book as it is a daily reality to me. Furthermore, I think Ungar-Sargon’s revelations will fall on deaf ears, unfortunately. I believe she makes an earnest attempt to give the working class their voice. However, bith political parties use the working class as a political football and the other classes relish their status and wouldn’t sacrifice a crumb for them. Boomers wouldn’t sacrifice their large increase in their portfolios or property values to pay more for their goods and services by way of paying the working class more for their services. These NIMBY boomers prefer cheap costs of good and services over a stable middle class.

If you’re NIMBY boomer, affluent, or in the knowledge economy, you’ll benefit from reading this book because Ungar-Sargon’s account of a plethora of working class people were very accurate. But if you’re a regular dude like myself, don’t waste your time. It’s more of an unnecessary reminder than an epiphany to our lives.

We've got much more in common than we think!

This book is a fascinating story of how the other side of America lives. in it, the reader, or listener, gets to know several different people from around the country. It may surprise you to learn just how much that you have in common with them.

These folks do not look or act like what one would think that they would. Yet, what was so surprising is that they want the same things that I do, and they see right through the smoke screens of politicians.

Most of us want the same thing. a nice home to live in, a decent job, the ability to take a vacation every once in awhile, good healthcare, and sometime in the future, retirement. This is the story of people who do not have those things.

Their views on healthcare and housing make an incredible amount of sense.

I have come to understand a little bit better about how the country can be both pro gay, and at the same time anti-transgender, when it comes to children. I've also come to understand how most Americans can be against having an abortion, yet want abortion to be safe and legal. It just goes to show you that the things that bind us don't belong to any single political party.

I think the most telling line in the book is at the end. "There are two political parties in this country. One for the chamber of commerce and the corporations. The other is for the educated credentialed elite and the dependent poor. "

Very pragmatic book that looks at the class divide and reframes the paradigm

I appreciated the grounded research that went into this. The author is very respectful of working people. The author has the courage to criticize the peerage that she comes from. It is harder to criticize your own clique than someone else’s.

Wonderful insider look into the hopes and dreams and challenges of the hard working class

I loved hearing honest stories of the people who make America great. May we all look for ways to lift them up.

A common sense view of America’s current predicament.

The story of America’s plight as told by those struggling for its promise. Batya eloquently allows the words of regular people to perfectly describe and define the state of our country. She shows that despite the label of “conservative” or “liberal”, our fellow countrymen are far less divided than the talking heads would have us believe. Her conclusion, in my opinion, perfectly sums up our current predicament in an incredibly balanced, non-partisan manner.

I read Batya’s first book, Bad News, and enjoyed it as well. However, I did find some of her bias to show through when it came to a certain individual. Though she was never unprofessional or inaccurate. It has been a pleasure to follow her career since first reading Bad News and she has become one of my favorite, and most balanced individuals, on many of today’s current “hot button” issues. I 100% recommend both of her books to anyone looking for a fair lens through which to view this increasingly confusing world.

A very eye opening book

This book really opened my eyes to the situation faced by so many working class people. And it illustrates well how the elites in our country talk a big game about doing more for the working class while undercutting them left and right. I wouldn’t say the book is political, but politics certainly comes into it because politics drives so many of the decisions made in this country that directly impact the working class.

This book was a real page turner for me, and I praise Batya for the work she put in to sharing the stories of real people and the real struggles they face in this country. Without a strong working class, so many in our country will be left behind and left out of the American dream. We can do better, and we must do better.

Not Thoughtful, Not interesting

This book is mainly the author writing accounts of people’s life stories, their hardships and what they’d like to see improved. It is a book devoid of nuance and of new ideas. A genuinely thoughtful book should be based on actual data, and besides containing new ideas, it should find an interesting way of presenting them. Hearing the detailed life stories of a parade of people feels like an easy way to get a book published without taking the time to think.