N)
Nickel and Dimed - Author and sociologist Barbara Ehrenreich spent about three months in 1998-2000 in three cities throughout the nation, attempting to "get by" on the salary available to low-paid and unskilled workers. She describes full-time workers who sleep in their cars because they cannot afford housing, and employees who yearn for the ability to "take a day off now and then-and still be able to buy groceries the next day." Her account is at once enraging and sobering.

E)
The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations - Robert Frank is the rare economist with a gift for irony. And economic ironies abound in The Economic Naturalist, a collection of nuggets culled from an assignment Frank gives to introductory economics students at Cornell: in 500 words or less, “pose and answer an interesting question about some pattern of events or behavior that you personally have observed.” Frank sees this homework as part of an effort to bring more narrative into the teaching of economics and to make intimidated students realize they may already possess a rudimentary grasp of the dismal science.

The End of Poverty - Despite some crushing statistics, The End of Poverty is a hopeful book. Based on a tremendous amount of data and his own experiences working as an economic advisor to the UN and several individual nations, Jeffrey Sachs makes a strong moral, economic, and political case for why countries and individuals should battle poverty with the same commitment and focus normally reserved for waging war. This important book not only makes the end of poverty seem realistic, but in the best interest of everyone on the planet, rich and poor alike.

F)
Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class - Knowing that Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group made almost $400 million last year, or that he spent $3 million last February on his 60th-birthday party (entertainment: Rod Stewart, Marvin Hamlisch, Martin Short, Patti LaBelle), doesn’t simply make the typical American green with envy, and hence unhappy. Rather, Robert Frank argues, the problem is that extreme consumption — at which Schwarzman excels — helps shape norms for the whole society, not just his fellow plutocrats.

Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser documents the effects of fast food on America's economy, its youth culture, and allied industries, such as meat packing, that serve this vast food production empire. A must-must-read!!

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) - “If you’re concerned about congressional earmarks, stock options (especially backdated options), hedge fund tax breaks, abuse of eminent domain, subsidies to sports teams, K Street lobbyists, the state of our health-care system, to say nothing of the cavernous gap between rich and poor, you’ll read this fine book - as I did - with a growing sense of outrage. Free Lunch makes it clear that it’s high time for ‘We the People’ to stand up and be counted.” ~~ John C. Bogle, founder and former chairman, The Vanguard Group

S)
Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis
-- And the People Who Pay the Price - In this addition to the growing list of exposés of the toll our patchwork, profit-based health-care system takes on Americans, Jonathan Cohn makes a plea for a universal coverage with a single-payer system regulated by the government. Cohn points out that managed care initially had an altruistic goal of making health-care affordable for all. But by 1997, two-thirds of HMOs were controlled by for-profit companies concerned with making money rather than preventing and easing sickness.

Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life - Public-relations skirmishes are no substitute for democracy. The ritual scolding of corporations in front of Congressional committees, Robert Reich argues, goes hand in hand with Congress's failure to pass follow-up laws that reward businesses for safeguarding the environment or walking away from deals with serial human rights abusers. Washington is all about the money, he writes.

Generation Rx : How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies - According to the author, almost half of all Americans use a prescription drug daily; one in six take three or more. What are the possible consequences of the staggering recent growth in the use of such drugs?

The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It - The industry lobbying group for the pharmaceutical industry has an oft-quoted figure that the average cost of developing a new drug is $802 million. The author of this important book, Marcia Angell, M.D., sites studies showing that between 1998 & 2002, only 133 out of 415 new drugs approved by the FDA were "new molecular entities," and of those, only 58 (or 14% of the 415) were a "significant improvement" over existing products. In addition, half of the $800 million ($400 million) is counted as lost investment opportunity on the costs of developing the "new" drug. In other words, the cost of marketing far outweighs the costs spent on Research & Development.

M)
The Media Monopoly - Since this classic on corporate control of the media was first published in 1983, the number of corporations dominating our media has shrunk from fifty to merely five. Once called "alarmist", Bagdikian's claims are uncanny and chilling in their accuracy. This much-needed sixth edition follows up on the digital revolution, revealing startling details of a new communications cartel within the United States.

The Mind and The Market - Global markets destroy local cultures. Corporate greed breeds poverty wages. Slogans shouted at a demonstration against the World Trade Organization? Not exactly. As Catholic University history professor Muller argues, these were the concerns of European intellectuals as they witnessed the rise of modern capitalism.