Ever notice an RV parked by Walmart at midnight? Ever wonder where your Amazon packages came from? Do you imagine that life on the road embodies the American dream? Find out!
This book was read by Susan Baker, Main Campus Reference Librarian.
Title: Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
Author: Jessica Bruder
Genre: Travel…sociology…retirement…economics…poverty? Nonfiction works, too.
Read Great Things 2021 categories: A book about social justice or equity, A microhistory (I personally used this title for this category), Choose your own category: A book made into a movie; A book suggested by a Durham Tech library staff member
Why did you choose to read, listen to, or watch this?
I kept seeing this title—for the book, for the movie—in libraries, in magazines, in articles. I resisted. But its persistent presence, as well as the image of on the cover, ultimately seduced me— hasn’t everyone dreamed of hitting the road in a vintage Airstream, especially during the darkest days of the pandemic?
What did you like about it?
This book explores a culture that I did not know existed– a growing number of elderly people in their 60s and older living in poverty who are crossing the United States in Jeeps, campers and repurposed buses in search of work— looking for jobs that they desperately need to sustain their lives.
Bruder makes you care by looking at this culture through the lens of people’s lives—among the people you’ll meet in this book are Linda May, who considers herself houseless but not homeless, on her way to a gig as an RV campground host; Chuck, a former businessman selling beer and hot dogs at spring training camp for the Oakland A’s; and Don, former IT exec who lost his savings in a market crash and his home in a divorce and living in an Airstream camper doing 12-hours shifts in an Amazon warehouse.
These are people who work hard, think outside the box, and find connections. In many ways their stories are deeply inspiring and their adventures are a joy to read. Yet at the same time, I found myself deeply shocked at the lack of social safety nets for the elderly in this country, an issue this book brings sharply into focus.
Did it remind you of any other book, tv show, movie, or anything else?
Available at the Main and Orange County Campus (HD 4918 .E375 2002) and as an ebook in Dogwood Digital Library 
Available at the Main and Orange County Campus (PS 3537 .T3234 G8) and as an audiobook through Dogwood Digital Library 
If you want to read the book Nomadland, you’ll also want to see (or maybe you already have seen) the movie version that won 3 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress).
Nickel and Dimed (on not getting by in America) is another modern exploration of working-class America and poverty.
Want to go classic? Take a journey with the Joads, taking to the road in search of a better life during the Great Depression—read, listen to, or watch (here’s a taste) John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Anything particularly noteworthy about this?
It’s won lots of awards and honors:
- The New York Times “Notable Book”
- Finalist: J. Anthony Lukas Prize and the Helen Bernstein Book Award
- Winner: Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
What would you pair this with?
I would pair this with Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad playing on repeat, a bottle of Two Old Goats lotion (extra strength arthritis formula), and my very own Earthship plan.
Anything else we should know?
The movie is currently available for streaming via Hulu and Amazon.
Have you read a book/ebook/audiobook, listened to a podcast, or watched a tv show or film that you’d like to review for the Durham Tech Library Blog? We have a form for that!