Purchase

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Indie BookShop

Ripped Bodice

Add to Wish List

Also by Jason Deparle:

American Dream, September 2005
Paperback

AMERICAN DREAM
By: Jason Deparle

Three Women, Ten Kids, And A Nation's Drive To End Welfare

Penguin
September 2005
On Sale: August 30, 2005
432 pages
ISBN: 0143034375
EAN: 9780143034377
Paperback
Add to Wish List

Non-Fiction

In this definitive work, two-time Pulitzer finalist Jason DeParle cuts between the mean streets of Milwaukee and the corridors of Washington to produce a masterpiece of literary journalism. At the heart of the story are three cousins whose different lives follow similar trajectories. Leaving welfare, Angie puts her heart in her work. Jewell bets on an imprisoned man. Opal guards a tragic secret that threatens her kids and her life. DeParle traces their family history back six generations to slavery and weaves poor people, politicians, reformers, and rogues into a spellbinding epic.

With a vivid sense of humanity, DeParle demonstrates that although we live in a country where anyone can make it, generation after generation some families don't. To read American Dream is to understand why.

Media Buzz

On Point - October 12, 2010