Book cover of Holding It Together

Book description

Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women. Holding It Together chronicles the causes and dire consequences.

America runs on women—women who are tasked with holding society together at the seams and fixing it when things fall apart. In this tour de force, acclaimed Sociologist Jessica Calarco lays…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Holding It Together as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

United States society constantly debates the role of our social safety net (or the lack of one) every political season. Holding It Together documents how women are forced to pick up the slack where we fall short in everything from childcare to elder care to baking brownies for a school bake sale. Poignantly told through the stories of women interviewed for the book, your views on the United States system of care and women's roles within it, will be changed by reading this book.

As someone who has found it difficult to say no to overwork, this book was tremendously eye-opening. Calarco's book is deeply researched and thoughtfully developed to show how women scramble to try to provide what other developed countries provide through a healthy social safety net--and the myths that enable this.

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