By Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel,
With United for a Fair Economy and Class Action
(The New Press, $18.95)

Order the Book

Praise for Economic Apartheid in America

“This book is an indispensable primer on the American economy that shows just how the rules families play by got changed in the middle of the game—and how we can work together to create a fair playing field.”

--Marian Wright Edelman, CEO and Founder, Children’s Defense Fund

"Terse, shocking, and richly documented, Economic Apartheid in America is both an indispensable resource and a call to arms!"

-Barbara Ehrenreich, author, Nickel and Dimed

"Economic Apartheid documents in devastating detail the effect of globalization on the lives of working Americans. But it doesn’t stop there. The concluding sections are a road map for action to build a fair economy movement. As the gap between rich and poor in America widens into a chasm, this book should be required reading for every American who cares about economic justice and democracy. Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel have cut to the moral and political heart of global economics."

--Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics, editor of Sojourners, convener of Call to Renewal.

"Collins and Yeskel have written a marvelously useful book on the most important social problem in America. They have created a treasure trove of data, cartoons, and analysis on the hardening class divisions and the growing chasm between rich and poor…and they show in clear and enjoyable prose how we can unite to level the playing field and share the wealth. An absolute must read!"

--Charles Derber, author of Corporation Nation and Hidden Power

“Economic Apartheid in America provides an overwhelming rebuttal to the purveyors of the notion that our society lives in a classless oligarchy governed by a benign plutocracy.  It is full of daily livelihood data and practical proposals to pursue politically and civically that amount to a wakeup call for Americans to pursue a fair economy as if people mattered first.”

--Ralph Nader

Read SocialFunds.com review of Economic Apartheid.

Read a review published by CommonDreams.org.

About the Book

Hurricane Katrina exposed the dramatic race and class cleavages that divide the United States. Students and researchers who want to delve deeper into the reality and causes of inequality in America will enjoy this newly updated edition of the widely-touted Economic Apartheid in America.

This book looks at the causes and manifestations of income and wealth disparities in the United States, including tax policy in light of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and recent corporate scandals. The book explores recent changes in income and wealth distribution and examines the economic policies and shifts in power that have fueled the growing divide.

Focusing on the decline of organized labor and civic institutions, the battle over global trade, and the growing inequality of income and wages, Economic Apartheid in America argues that most Americans are shut out of the discussion of the rules governing their economic lives.

Accessible and engaging, illustrated throughout with charts, graphs, and political cartoons, the book lays out a comprehensive plan for action.

About the Authors

Chuck Collins is Senior Fellow at United for a Fair Economy (UFE) and Class Action. He is co-author with Bill Gates, Sr. of Wealth and Our Commonwealth.

Felice Yeskel is a founder and the Co-Director of Class Action and a faculty member in the Social Justice Education Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Collins and Yeskel are co-founders of UFE and Responsible Wealth. They live in Massachusetts.

Available for Course Adoption

To order a review copy for course adoption, contact the New Press at academic@thenewpress.com

Invite the Authors to Your Campus or Organization

The authors are available for public events, conferences, presentations, and workshops at your campus or community organization. Collins and Yeskel are veteran public speakers and leaders of participatory and engaging workshops on economic inequality, class and classism, and social action.

Collins and Yeskel are also available for phone interviews with classes that adopt Economic Apartheid in America as a reading. Many professors and students have enjoyed the opportunity to question the authors using communication technology that is now available in many institutions.

Workshop and presentation topics include:

• Economic Apartheid in America: Understanding Growing Inequality and Insecurity
• Uprooting Classism: The Invisible Ism
• The Growing Divide: The Roots of the New Income and Wealth Inequality
• Class and Race: Double Divides
• Shrink, Shift & Shaft: Tax Policy and Growing Inequality
• War and the Economy
• Natural and Un-Natural Disasters: The Divide Katrina Revealed

"Economic Apartheid in America provided my sociology students with an invaluable introduction to the structure of inequality in the United States. The telephone interview we had with Chuck Collins turned out to be a wonderful way for students to get answers to their questions about the implications of the book's findings straight from the author. Collins was also able offer students practical suggestions for how they might contribute to struggles for economic justice in our country."

--Dr. David Spener, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX

"Class Action combines a trenchant class analysis with opportunities for people to discuss experiences and feelings about class. This combination lays the foundations for social change. Felice Yeskel's presentation to our college was just what my students needed for the realities of the growing economic divide to come alive. Yeskel is able to engage students with a lively interactive style, humor, and clarity. Felice was able to inspire hope and motivate students toward action without backing off of the "Economic Apartheid" she so powerfully described."

--Dr. Judith Plaskow, Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College, New York, N.Y.

To request a public speaker, workshop or phone interview, contact: Felice Yeskel, Ed.D. Co-Director, Class Action (413) 585-9709 info@classism.org www.classisim.org