As a mother of twin toddlers and one on the way, having time to read is considered a precious gift! I read a couple chapters before I go to bed and enjoy the laughs Jennifer's stories bring me. She invites you into her life and you don't want to leave it.

Very few books manage to cover such a breadth of experience in such sensitive, revealing and amusing detail. Touching people's lives in two different continents and with subject matter as diverse as child rearing and HIV, the author manages to imbue every true story with the happiness and pain of human existance. Great bedtime reading.

The importance of this book cannot be overstated - it is still the most exhaustive effort to date to document every aspect of the black American condition, from medical history to birth rates to the black church and social clubs. Myrdal systematically shreds the institutions of segregation and racial indocrination. As for providing groundwork for changing these systems, however, he falls short. Myrdal is too vague in his theories of white morality and causation of black poverty and never draws solid conclusions. There is also no mention of actual contact or conversation with any black people - Myrdal fails to see blacks as much more than a palimpsest of the white experience. I think he would have done better to push the white psyche aside and interact more with the focus of his study. Ralph Ellison noted, "Can a people live and develop over three hundred years simply by _reacting_? Are American Negroes simply the creation of white men, or have they at least helped to create themselves out of what they found around them?"

Writing against the backdrop of WWII, Myrdal confronted the contradiction between the US belief "All men are created equal") and the reality that African-Americans earned less for the same work as whites, lived in atrocious conditions, died at an earlier age. He argues that if Americans had believed that God made some poor, others rich, this contradiction could have been acceptable. But because Americans believed "all men are equal," the fact that African-Americans were manifestly living in worse conditions lead US society to seek a justification in the doctrine of racial inferiority. This book grasped the contradiction in US society, and foresaw that change was imminent, but Myrdal did not see that it was those under-educated and overworked African-American men and women themselves who would form the backbone of Civil Rights Movement. He expected that the white elites in power would have to change in order for the situation of African-Americans to improve. One reason this book is relevant today is Myrdal's theory of cumulative causation, which suggests that government intervention will be necessary to reverse the tendency of white race prejudice to maintain a low standard of living for African-Americans. In days where economic theories attacking the logic of affirmative action are widespread, here is an eloquent statement of the logic behind the original ideas for affirmative action.

During the long course of our studies of social trends that undermine our collective humanity, we have frequently come across significant research studies that provide critical keys to our understanding. Such is the case with AN AMERICAN DILEMMA: THE NEGRO PROBLEM AND MODERN DEMOCRACY. The Swedish researcher Gunnar Myrdal, under a grant sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation, produced this landmark study which was published in 1944 by Harper and Row publishers. Some fifty years after its publication AN AMERICAN DILEMMA still stands as perhaps the most comprehensive, and unsettling, analysis of America's relationship with its African members. At nearly 1500 pages, including footnotes and index, Myrdal's study is awesomely comprehensive. Disturbing revelation follows revelation as the scientist, trained in economics, explores every imaginable aspect of Negro life and at various times even proposes methods by which America might eventually relieve itself of its longstanding "problem." From the beginning of this country's history, at the heart of America's ethnic crisis lies the very real potential of sustained and systematic planning to manage Blacks as a material resource as opposed to human beings in all their potential. I will take this thought further to state that Myrdal's study stands as a virtual blueprint for a contemporary campaign to undermine the aspirations of the Black citizenry. The ultimate form of this repression can only be described as systematic genocide--by every definition of the word. By Myrdal's own words, his study is quite thorough, encompassing not only every aspect of Negro life but examining the varied attitudes of the dominant white majority.

I enjoyed reading this book to my children for several reasons. The pictures were nicely drawn and colorful. My five year old liked to watch a new insect appear on each page and I helped her identify each type of flower that was featured as the story of the bee sleeping in the Rose unfolded. The style of the story was repetitive and progressive, in a ". . . the house that Jack built" way, which appeals to young readers. The rhymes were fun, and some lines had internal rhymes as well.

I found this book laborious, only slightly entertaining. Belongs in academia, but not necessarily for your reading pleasure on temping. If you liked this book, read Temporarily Yours by Wendy Perkins,an original, entertaining, provocative, self-published author/temp activist.

As a former rent-a-peon, I can attest to what Dr. Parker is talking about. Certainly the temporary-staffing industry does NOT want you to read this book.

I think this is a must-read for career counselors and those considering temping. The temp industry wants you to believe that the streets will be paved with gold after you sign on with them. Most of the temps interviewed for this book (and my temp coworkers) have similar views to mine. We've come to regard it as an easy way for companies to exploit workers and tell them they should be happy to have such a wonderful job. Just as Dr. Parker mentions, all too often temps literally are unable to afford searching for regular work. Time off usually means no pay, and there isn't a lot of money to spend on resume, proper interview attire, and the like.

Parker splendidly illustrates the disturbing increase in the proportion of the job market that consists of "contingent work" that has occurred during the past two decades. And he provides evidence that the temp-staffing industry is at least encouraging companies to use such staffing even more...

The downside to Flesh Peddlers is that it isn't for math phobes; there are a lot of numbers to go through and graphs would make it much easier to see what Parker is talking about. It also suffers from typographical errors throughout the text. Also recommended: "Just a Temp" by Kevin Daniel Henson. It is similar to "Flesh Peddlers," but actually is more reader-friendly.