From the lush descriptions in the very first pages, it feels clear that Driver has longed to write about the state for some time. . A work of journalism that seeks at once to draw attention to injustice and to philosophize, insisting on material equity and a specific notion of the good life. Driver frames the book in terms of moral beauty: an ethic of looking outside oneself, to the Other, in which she locates the good and the just. The work ethic and steadfast organizing of the people she chronicles transcends political activism and approaches something conceptual and timeless. Its when she calls on her experience as a reporter and an Arkansan that her doggedness and closeness to the storyand, in turn, her books emotional importancebest shine through. The warmth that Driver must have developed with the people she was chronicling is evident. This rapport puts into practice Drivers conceptual approach of moral beauty. The combination of the two is perhaps the books most important contribution. This book most reminded me of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, by James Agee and Walker Evans.Driver is a worthy inheritor of this tradition. . Her lens of moral beauty enables her to create art without aestheticizing the workers suffering. In part, its her training as a literary scholarand specifically as a scholar of the literature of death in Mexicothat enables her to ground and humanize the exploitation she observes. No matter how foreclosed the legal possibilities for holding Tyson accountable, Driver demands that the company answer on a higher planeto see that it has done wrong in the courts of what is human, ethical, and morally beautiful. Caroline Tracey, The Nation "Intimately reported." The New Yorker "[ Alice Driver] offers incredible insights into the expendable lives powering an essential industry."
Philip Johnson, A Conversation Best Book of 2024 "A startling glimpse into the meatpacking industrys abuse of undocumented and incarcerated workers." The New York Times Book Review "A tour de force" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "The workers who feed us are some of America's poorest and most exploited. Alice Driver tells their stories with enormous compassion and grace. A fearless, wonderful book." ERIC SCHLOSSER, author of Fast Food Nation
"Life and Death of The American Worker is not only a horror story of corporate negligence but a deeply humane work about what we owe each other. How chilling it is to think that no one else but Driver could have written such a vital book." SLOANE CROSLEY, author of Grief Is For People
"An extraordinary feat of reportinga gripping investigation into the brutal, often life-threatening conditions faced by America's most vulnerable workers. It's hard to imagine a more urgent or timely book, one written with rigor, deep compassion, and moral clarity. A vital, infuriating book - an absolute must-read. Highly recommended. BRIAN GOLDSTONE, author of There Is No Place For US
Not since The Jungle has a book punched me quite literally in the stomach like this one has. Alice Driver's invitation to sit at the table with the workers who package our dinners, who create the nuggets we hand our children in the backseats of our cars, is an unforgettable experience. Life and Death of the American Worker is a masterpiece that will be referenced for generations. STEPHANIE LAND, bestselling author of Maid and Class "An unforgettable piece of literary journalism that illuminates the way our world really works. Driver is bighearted and tireless as she plunges into the darkest reaches of the modern food system, and the story she reveals is shocking but also deeply humane and surprisingly inspiring. A landmark book about power in America today." CHRISTOPHER LEONARD, New York Times bestselling author of The Meat Racket and Kochland
"In heartbreaking detail, Life and Death of The American Worker focuses on the very human consequences of our choices and the appalling ways that people in power dodge our nation's labor and environmental laws in pursuit of profit." RACHEL SLADE, author of Making It in America and Into the Raging Sea
This is one of the most vital books of our time. An antidote to the racist propaganda behind the rise of Trumpism, Life and Death of the American Worker honors the invisibilized people who sacrifice blood and well-being to feed us, who are too often killed in the shadows by profit-hungry companies that escape accountability with the help of corrupt politicians from both political parties. Alice Driver is a rare type of journalist: one who can journey into the most bloodstained and deplorable corners of this world without getting lost in the dark. She carries the light of the victims. She'll light a fire under you. May every American read this book. JEAN GUERRERO, author of Crux and Hatemonger
"Alice Driver's deep dive into the lives and losses of the workers who process our food will haunt you. Meatpacking work was brutal before the COVID-19 pandemic; when the virus came, these workers were expected to volunteer to sicken and die so that Americans could keep up our meat consumption. They were called 'essential' but treated as expendable, as so much replaceable human machine equipment. In Driver's pages, their worries and fears, their pain and their care, their love and laughter and their determination to find justice remind us that no matter how much capitalism tries to reduce us to robots, humans will always find a way to resist. An essential read." SARAH JAFFE, author of Work Won't Love You Back
As much an act of attention and care as it is a work of rigorous investigation, Alice Driver has given us a radicalizing, clear-eyed portrait of workers and their circumstances. ALEJANDRA OLIVA, author of Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration
