Those wanting to hear some specifics about what’s happening in today’s rampantly unequal economy might want to attend the Woodstock Library Forumthis Saturday, August 11, from 5 to 6 p.m. Alissa Quart, author of Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America, published in June by Ecco/HarperCollins, will be interviewed live by journalist Julie Lasky.
Quart’s latest book examines the lives of many middle-class Americans who can barely afford to raise children. Her subjects, from professors to lawyers to caregivers to nurses, have been wrung out by a society that doesn’t support them.
Quart and Barbara Ehrenreich lead the non-profit Economic Hardship Reporting Project, which aims to change the national conversation around poverty and economic insecurity. Funded by the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington-based progressive think tank, its aim is to tell the underreported stories of American inequality through a range of genres and contributors.
Quant writes the Outclassed column for The Guardian. Her work has received several awards. She was a 2010 Neiman fellow at Harvard University and the Ottaway Professor at SUNY New Paltz in 2015.
Julie Lasky, who will interview Quart, is known for her writings on design and popular culture. She currently contributes to The New York Times real-estate section, and writes for the Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Departures and other publications.
Admission is free. The Woodstock Library Forum, the longest running cultural and public affairs program in the Hudson Valley, is sponsored by The Friends of The Woodstock Library.