In this episode of #VelshiBannedBookClub, Ali Velshi speaks with authors Sarah Smarsh (Heartland) and Stephanie Land (Maid). Smarsh and Land discuss banned book Nickel And Dimed (1996) by the late Barbara Ehrenreich. Books about the reality of poverty in the U.S. are being banned by people who want to ignore the issue.

Nickel and Dimed is considered a seminal book when it comes to highlighting the very real experience of being working poor in America. Similarly, Heartland and Maid are groundbreaking first-hand accounts of their authors’ lived experiences.

These books and their authors illuminate aspects of our nation that many more privileged citizens would prefer remain shrouded in darkness, including systems of oppression and people — 37.2 million of them — living below the poverty line in America today. It also directly addresses the great fallacy of the American can-do spirit, the “pick yourself up from your bootstraps” mentality.

American society, the authors say, is wrong to correlate individual value with affluence or lack thereof.

Listen to the interview below:

Velshi, Sarah Smarsh and Stephanie Land on Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed:

Velshi on banned books on MSNBC:

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