Having and Being Had
Published on 31. August 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-525-53746-5 (ISBN)
Description
"A sensational new book [that] tries to figure out whether it's possible to live an ethical life in a capitalist society…. The results are enthralling."-Associated Press
A timely and arresting new look at affluence by the New York Times bestselling author whose intellect is "omnivorous, roving, and humane" (The Cut).
"My adult life can be divided into two distinct parts," Eula Biss writes, "the time before I owned a washing machine and the time after." Having just purchased her first home, the poet and essayist now embarks on a provocative exploration of the value system she has bought into. Through a series of engaging exchanges-in libraries and laundromats, over barstools and backyard fences-she examines our assumptions about class and property and the ways we internalize the demands of capitalism. Described by The New York Times as a writer who "advances from all sides, like a chess player," Biss offers an uncommonly immersive and deeply revealing new portrait of work and luxury, of accumulation and consumption, of the value of time and how we spend it. Ranging from IKEA to Beyoncé to Pokemon, Biss asks, of both herself and her class, "In what have we invested?"
Story Locale: Chicago, New York City
A timely and arresting new look at affluence by the New York Times bestselling author whose intellect is "omnivorous, roving, and humane" (The Cut).
"My adult life can be divided into two distinct parts," Eula Biss writes, "the time before I owned a washing machine and the time after." Having just purchased her first home, the poet and essayist now embarks on a provocative exploration of the value system she has bought into. Through a series of engaging exchanges-in libraries and laundromats, over barstools and backyard fences-she examines our assumptions about class and property and the ways we internalize the demands of capitalism. Described by The New York Times as a writer who "advances from all sides, like a chess player," Biss offers an uncommonly immersive and deeply revealing new portrait of work and luxury, of accumulation and consumption, of the value of time and how we spend it. Ranging from IKEA to Beyoncé to Pokemon, Biss asks, of both herself and her class, "In what have we invested?"
Story Locale: Chicago, New York City
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Penguin Putnam Inc
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 204 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
288 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-525-53746-5 (9780525537465)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Eula Biss is the author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller On Immunity: An Inoculation, which was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review, and Notes from No Man’s Land: American Essays, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Her work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, The Believer, and elsewhere, and has been supported by an NEA Literature Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.