Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

Jessica Bruder

Sep 2017 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

The inspiration for Chloé Zhao's celebrated film starring Frances McDormand, winner of the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress
March and April pick for the PBS Newshour-New York Times "Now Read This" Book Club
New York Times bestseller

"People who thought the 2008 financial collapse was over a long time ago need to meet the people Jessica Bruder got to know in this scorching, beautifully written, vivid, disturbing (and occasionally wryly funny) book." —Rebecca Solnit

 

From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads.

On frequently traveled routes between seasonal jobs, Jessica Bruder meets people from all walks of life: a former professor, a McDonald’s vice president, a minister, a college administrator, and a motorcycle cop, among many others—including her irrepressible protagonist, a onetime cocktail waitress, Home Depot clerk, and general contractor named Linda May.

In a secondhand vehicle she christens “Van Halen,” Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying Linda May and others from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy—one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable “Earthship” home, they have not given up hope.

Ratings and reviews

This is a must read story about the creation of a defacto caste system in America based on ageism, at a time when corporations are making record profits and there is a shortage of good workers. The people chronicled are predominantly white, educated, skilled, reliable people with a good work history that are being treated like they are cheap, disposable workers primarily because of their age. On the other hand, they are expected to accept minimum wage jobs requiring hard physical labor in spite of their age. They have become part of an underclass that is vulnerable to exploitation, but are using a lifetime of skills to try regain control over their lives by eliminating their biggest expenses, a house and possessions. They have chosen or have been forced to live out of various types of vehicles while traveling across the nation from one seasonal temporary job to another. They support each other and form an innovative community of itinerant workers as they try to rebuild their lives.

Bruder did an excellent job of telling the story of modern day nomads. There's the good, the bad, and the ugly. The various stories depict the lifestyle in full color and her journalistic research adds context and cause.

Narrative makes me think! Haunts. Recommend to everybody. These are people my age. Promised groovy, affordable, easy middle class life. disappointed how it all evolved. Yet, these folks found another way. Important, easy read. Speaks.

About the author

Jessica Bruder is an award-winning journalist whose work focuses on subcultures and the dark corners of the economy. She has written for Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Bruder teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism.