This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class

by Elizabeth Warren

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Checked out

Publication

Metropolitan Books (2017), 352 pages

Description

Senator Elizabeth Warren has long been an outspoken champion of America's middle class, and by the time the people of Massachusetts elected her in 2012, she had become one of the country's leading progressive voices. Now, at a perilous moment for our nation, she has written a book that is at once an account of how we built the strongest middle class in history, a scathing indictment of those who have spent the past thirty-five years undermining working families, and a rousing call to action. Warren grew up in Oklahoma, and she has never forgotten how difficult it was for her mother and father to hold on at the ragged edge of the middle class. An educational system that offered opportunities for all made it possible for her to achieve her dream of going to college, becoming a teacher, and, later, attending law school. But for many, these kinds of opportunities are gone, and a government that once looked out for working families is instead captive to the rich and powerful. Seventy-five years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal ushered in an age of widespread prosperity. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan reversed course and sold the country on the disastrous fiction called trickle-down economics. Now, with the election of Donald Trump -- a con artist who promised to drain the swamp of special interests and then surrounded himself with billionaires and lobbyists -- the middle class is being pushed ever closer to collapse. This Fight Is Our Fight tells eye-opening stories about her battles in the Senate and vividly describes the experiences of hard-working Americans who have too often been given the short end of the stick. Elizabeth Warren has had enough of phony promises and a government that no longer serves its people -- she won't sit down, she won't be silenced, and she will fight back.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member nyiper
I love Elizabeth and reading her is just like listening to her---spunk, energy, reality, spirit---lots of words that make Elizabeth someone to direct us toward a more sane world.
LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo
While Warren’s earlier book, “A Fighting Chance,” focused more on the impact that the banking industry and fiscal reforms have had on Americans, her more recent book casts a broader net. Warren provides fascinating insights on the historic 2016 presidential election. True, many people who
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don’t ascribe to her politics will understandably brand some of her narrative as an extended political stump speech. Other critics might dismiss what one reviewer described as the author’s “spunk” and “spirit” as bordering on righteous indignation. But the senator’s skillfully-articulated arguments involving economic justice and other timely issues give people on both sides of the political aisle many interesting points to ponder.
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LibraryThing member haymaai
‘This Is Our Fight’ by Elizabeth Warren presents a very astute account of the demise of the middle class today. Since the time of Reagan’s era, through the deregulation of Wall Street and the rise of corporate America, through the trickle down economic policies of the White House, our
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nation’s working class suffers more and more with many unable to support their families today. Warren states that since, 1980, ‘nearly 100 percent of the growth in market income—the income individuals earn before taxes and government transfers like Social Security—has been gobbled up by the top 10 percent.’ Warren puts a face to those struggling in the working class by portraying the lives of real people, such as the struggling college student who is strapped with insurmountable college debts; the Walmart worker who can barely subsist on her meager income; and a DHL worker who was forced to take a huge pay cut and had to foreclose on his mortgage. In her book, Warren, a former Harvard history professor, makes a compelling argument for raising the minimal wage, increasing the tax structure for corporations, lowering the cost of college and technical education, and regulating the banks and Wall Street. As a Senator in Washington, she presents a tough-minded revelation of the corruption that occurs in the political arena, and she serves as a champion for the middle class. I gave this book five stars because I felt that Warren makes a persuasive argument as she portrays the shortcomings of our government system today.
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LibraryThing member Katyefk
Elizabeth Warren is a very inspirational person. She is very smart, clear thinking, and seems to be a highly ethical person. (An unusual thing in politics these days.) Her book explains her life's journey to have those "in charge" do what is right for the American Middle Class, which includes most
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Americans. I was pretty shocked and surprised at the all the ways our government continues to sell out to big money interests at the expense of the majority of Americans. We need to take back our country to be of the people not of the corporations. As a senator, she is in a good position to make changes and she is definitely trying.
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LibraryThing member Tytania
I don't agree with Warren on all things. She doesn't have a single good thing to say about business, ever; the Washington Post put it well in an editorial I just saw today about her latest proposed bill about regulating financial equity: that, typically, she was "overreaching" and "overwrought."

For
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example, in the book she cites a commencement speech given by Michael Bloomberg where he criticizes the right for being too quick to demonize minorities, and the left for being too quick to demonize big business.

Her reaction is, well, overwrought. How dare he "equate" poor minorities with powerful big business? How come everyone else is not up in arms!

Because he didn't "equate" them; not surprisingly, Warren fails to see she is a perfect example of what he's talking about.

The book was big on elementary history lessons and rants. I wished there were more autobiography, and more of the informal case studies she starts off with. I really do like Senator Warren, respect her, and at the core of her message, agree with her - I would love to fix the system so that it works for the majority of Americans; that's what the system is "for." So, without overreaching or overreacting, let's get to it!
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LibraryThing member billsearth
Lots of facts and quite a bit of history back up the Authors opinions. If you are skeptical ther are 69 pages of fine print on the sources of the facts presented.
In science, the "notes" would be called a bibliography. They are arranged by pages in which they are refereed to.

The only reason to give
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this book slightly less than 5 stars is the severely pessimistic outlook the author has acquired in a lifetime on human nature, mostly as greed and lack of a strong moral compass among so many people. This rubs off on the reader as a situation hardly worth trying to fix.
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LibraryThing member dmturner
Read by the author, the book is an accessible, partisan discussion of the ways in which a government geared toward supporting and promoting the progress of lower- and middle-income citizens has steadily moved toward one supporting big business, large banks, and the wealthy. The effect of policy is
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illustrated throughout by the stories of three average Americans who have lost momentum due to the government's change of direction. The book, as of spring 2017, was up-to-date, incorporating the events leading up to and immediately following Donald Trump's election.

Things I found illuminating: A discussion of the increasing role of lobbyists in the decision making of elected officials over the last 60 or 70 years; the pervasiveness of the reductive "trickle-down economics" theory of the economy; and a breakdown of the banks' role in the 2008 recession and the Wells Fargo scandal.

Things I found less rewarding: It's one-sided (not a surprise), and it hammers the same points over and over. I listened to it in the car and probably should have read it in hard copy; audiobooks are better when they are complex and rich (I listened Moby Dick and Great Expectations that way and felt enriched as a result). The author's distinctive dry, vehement teacher voice makes her a good speaker but an over-emphatic reader.
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Awards

Audie Award (Finalist — 2018)

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

352 p.; 6.46 inches

ISBN

1250120616 / 9781250120618
Page: 0.5977 seconds