Aย NEW YORK TIMESย EDITORSโ CHOICE
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BYย TIMEย , NPR, INSTYLE, AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
โA sensational new book [that] tries to figure out whether itโs possible to live an ethical life in a capitalist society. . . . The results are enthralling.โ โAssociated Pressย
A timely and arresting new look at affluence by theย New York Timesย bestselling author, โone of the leading lights of the modern American essay.โ โFinancial Times
โMy adult life can be divided into two distinct parts,โ Eula Biss writes, โthe time before I owned a washing machine and the time after.โย 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 exchangesโin libraries and laundromats, over barstools and backyard fencesโshe examines our assumptions about class and property and the ways we internalize the demands of capitalism. Described by theย New York Times as a writer who โadvances from all sides, like a chess player,โ 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 Beyoncรฉ to Pokemon, Biss asks, of both herself and her class, โIn what have we invested?โ