A Living

Working-Class Americans Talk to Their Doctor

By: Michael D. Stein

Write A Review

eText | 22 April 2025

At a Glance

Format
ePUB

eText

$25.32

or 4 interest-free payments of $6.33 with

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

From a leading public health expert and physician, and in the style of Studs Terkel's Working, comes an eye-opening look at what it's like to have to work physically hard for your money in America . . .

A Living is a vivid portrait of the working lives of the patients who visit Dr. Michael Stein, a primary care doctor in urban America.

What makes his patients unique is that they, by and large, do demanding manual labor. Very few have the luxury of working remotely, or seated.

Inspired by Studs Terkel's classic WORKING— which was published 50 years ago this year— Stein produces an eye-opening look at what it's like to have to work long hours at physical jobs for a paycheck in America. A Living is composed of vignettes, snap shots of people's working lives, the dramas, disappointments and frustrations workers have with their colleagues, family co-workers, and supervisors. But also, it captures the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, the opportunities for initiative and self-expression that come from doing intricate work with one's hands. Work gives Stein's patients a sense of identity and a social environment to thrive in.

Ultimately, A Living is an extraordinarily powerful and poetic tableaux of working-class America at this moment when manual labor may be the final refuge in the new era of AI.