Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

This is a fascinating book about a growing culture in this country. A good deal of the book follows people the author had gotten to know as she traveled with them living as a nomad. Although most of them were living as nomads because of unfortunate personal downturns, they have come up with amazing innovative ways to live. The author also points out that it is made more difficult for them because most cities don't have good legal places for people living in vehicles to park. Camping spots should be provided. After all, we fund homeless shelters. These people are fairly self sustaining in their traveling homes and that should be respected.

This book gave much to think about long after finishing the book. I am in the age group that’s featured in the book. At one time my husband and I discussed living and traveling full time in an RV glad I read this book first.

Disturbing content to see that America is the wealthiest nation in the world but there are many who live from pay to pay
but at the end of their working lives they are destitute, hoping nothing goes wrong.
Nice to have picture of each of the main characters so you can relate as you read along. Being a pessimist I always thought
that some devastating event was going to come along and hit them again while they are down.
The bond between the people was nice to see, but you knew there was no really bright horizon in the long run.
Again, we see that life is not always fair but we must fight on and grasp the hand of friends.

I think the subject matter is good and could have been presented much differently with some experience in writing. The writer is back and forth. I'm a quarter of the way through and every time I think I have the picture in mind - it changes. I hope to join the masses that consider this type of retirement but this is not helping my vision of it very much.

I was expecting to read about mostly unskilled workers forced into living in vans and working in backbreaking jobs because of low wages and a lack of opportunities. Many of the people in this book were professionals who have fallen on hard times because of the global financial crisis or retrenchment. A truly frightening look at the collapse of middle America, but at the same time a testament to peoples' ability to get on with it and make the most of their changed circumstances. The sense of community and glimpses of alternate ways of living that the van-dwellers are helping to create lightened what could have been an incredibly depressing book

A very enjoyable writing with much thought and imagery evocation. The one missing star of five possible comes from use of the victims terminology “white privilege”. Received penalty vs warning for breaking law has nothing to do with privilege and everything to do with respect rewarded with leniency and kindness. Surviving is no privilege or race. Over all, two pages don’t diminish the read like touching a rose thorn neither steals the beauty.

While some will look at the folks and lifestyle profiled in this booking being about those who are "down on their luck" - I see these folks as innovators who are breaking free from what we have been trained to believe our entire life in USA. I lived my entire childhood in one house and my father worked for 35 years for the same company - finally retiring with a good pension in addition to SS benefits - I do not believe this level of stability exists anymore. I have been relatively stable / successful in my career - but in following the rules of today change jobs every 2 to 5 years. This has resulted in the need to move constantly both domestically and internationally - and not really establish a home anywhere. Here is how I live:

1. I use my parents address to keep residency / local bills in USA.
2. I have dwindled my possessions down to those that fit into a suitcase.
3. When I am at a work location (a city where I have a job - either domestic or international) - I have started staying in hotels or month to month furnished properties. I currently live long term in a small hotel room that has a mini fridge and hot water kettle.
4. Through all this - I have been able to dwindle down my possessions / spending to ONLY items that add value to my life. Without knowing it I have embraced the minimalist movement and could not be happier!

Now - keep in mind this is easy for me. I do not have children so do not need to worry about school years and the like. Also, I am not doing this for financial need - I currently am doing OK in that regard - but I am doing this for practical reasons - it really seems to be the only way to move into jobs that are stimulating for me. While my situation is perhaps a bit extreme - most friends of mine have moved several times over the years to stay employed. I remember some years back before embracing this - family members told me when I moved I needed to find an apartment that fit the furniture I had (essentially over pay for an apartment just to fit my possessions in it!!). At the time this seemed ludicrous - being weighed down by furniture of all things!

Today with the internet and mobile phones things are different even then they were 20 years ago. I live 15 hours flight from my parents and friends back home but talk daily via phone or WhatsApp - long story short this technology has broken down what used to be unsurmountable distances - whether you are 30 minutes away for 15 hours it all feels the same.

The American Dream of our parents needs to be re-written and re-published. Homeownership and amassing massive amounts of possessions is no longer the right way forward for all. Whether people have the ability to live and work in one place ore need to move around like those profiled in Nomadland - either situation is fine and our rules and regulations should support that. Could there even be a market for something in between an a fully loaded RV and a van you need to fit to purpose for living out of? Perhaps larger vans with a few more amenities could be designed to really allow people to embrace this lifestyle either pre or post retirement further?

While the folks profiled in this book seemed for the most part to have moved into this lifestyle out of necessity (though many truly seemed to love and embrace it after the fact) - as many who drive change do - are forging a path for those of us (including myself) who would happily embrace a lifestyle similar to this out of choice.

I had very mixed feelings about this book. One thing I can't say is that it's boring. I read it in two sittings. I could identify with many of the experiences, if not with the people. I lived in my car all the way to Central America. I have pulled a travel trailer across the United States with a 27-year-old pick-up in order to start a new life on the opposite coast. I worked as an the store holiday temp, and like the protagonist I made it through those painful, mind-numbing nights by never forgetting I was working towards my goal of escaping the American nightmare. I even used the same phrase as a woman in the book to describe to others what I was doing: "working inside the belly-of-the-beast." However, my goal was not to escape to the hinterland of Arizona, but rather, to a poor third-world country (where the poor are left to go about their lives in relative peace).

I came away baffled about two things:
#1 Although the people in the book seemed to all have figured out that the American dream is a con by the Establishment Elite to rob Americans and keep us as slaves, none seemed to have awakened to the biggest con-job of all: the American system of health care. The Power Elites poison our food (GMO's, aspartame, chemicals) and our water (fluoride) and our air (spraying aerosol particulates) and then offer us more poison (pharmaceuticals) for "the cure". Many in the book seemed more worried about keeping their health care than dropping out of the American health care con-game. Only one person in the book seemed to care about eating a healthy diet. Their plans for dealing with old age (suicide) were extremely depressing. It need not be. Scattered around the globe are cultures where people expect to live a healthy, laboring, old-age up to age 100 and beyond. To maintain stability in a life of poverty one MUST put the health of one's body before everything else. This means a vegetarian diet of fresh, unprocessed foods, and eschewing bad habits like eating junk food, getting tattoos ( a drip-feed of carcinogens into the bloodstream) smoking, hormone injections and eating in restaurants (also a waste of precious resources). Keeping a healthy body involves maintaining a healthy mind, ergo, no television propaganda or pop-culture filth inserted into the brain. The Power Elites use fear-porn to control the American people. The overseers on the plantation are the Establishment Elite universities and publications, but the favored method for the perfect Pavlovian response remains the boob tube.The jig is up though as more and more folks reclaim power over their own health from the medical-industrial complex.

#2 Many people in the book seemed careless to me, and at times even reckless. The second most important rule for maintaining stability in poverty is that you must be smarter, more resourceful, more resilient, more prudent and have more self-control than the average person. Sloppiness, forgetfulness and impatience are luxuries the poor can't afford. One must always be scanning the future for the potential problems and than taking steps to try and avoid such problems. When one is poor, one mistake can pull you into a black hole that's damn hard to extricate yourself from. The people in this book did not seem to me to have learned this important lesson yet. People of color often say they must be smarter, work harder and be better over-all than an average American, just to partake of what the average American receives by default. The truth of the matter is that this applies to Americans in poverty as well, even though this idea is anathema in our PC culture. A poor American living in a majority-poor foreign country can relax a bit and take things easier, but not back home living in the American nightmare.

I found the author very irritating. Her assertion that people so poor they don't have a pot to pee in, or a window to throw it out of, are enjoying some kind of "white privilege" is laughable, and extremely offensive. Only someone with a background of elite privilege could have written something so ridiculous. I can't speak to the experience of black folk, but I do know a bit about the Latino migrant experience. I married into a Latino migrant family and I have many illegal alien friends. Decades ago Latino migrants figured out how to deal with low wages and high rent. In any Hispanic community there are a few entrepreneurial souls with legal status who rent a house (or many) and then proceed to cram as many people into the house as possible, each paying a nominal rent. I have seen three bedroom homes with ten people living in the house. Closets, garages and outdoor sheds are turned into bedrooms. The most extreme thing I've seen is a wooden storage compartment on a back deck transformed into a sleeping chamber. In many cases this situation is not much different than what these people experienced growing up. Of course there are exceptions, but the Latinos I have known are miserable when forced to live in isolation. The "lone wolf" is simply not a part of Hispanic culture. Except for the rare case of an extended family renting a large home and then everyone chipping in on the rent, this solution is just not available to white folk. Latin Americans still come to the United States for "a better life", while ever-increasing numbers of Americans are exiting the United States as economic refugees. How can they find a better life in the US when we are moving to their countries for a better life? I have asked my migrant friends about this and they can't give me an answer. Perhaps someone will tackle this conundrum in a book. I'd love to read such a book.

The author rails a lot about how the Power Elites have caused the problems addressed in her book (very true) yet I find it ironic that she thanks the Rockefeller Foundation ( a stalwart of the Power Elite) at the end of her book. She teaches at an Establishment Elite university, and she has written for Establishment Elite publications. However, one wonders if the Washington Post will continue to publish her work after this book. And then there is this thank you in the Acknowledgements: "My father Ron helped me co-pilot Halen during much of the journey back East." Was she too cowardly to fully immerse herself into the life she was writing about, or was there another reason her father helped her get the van home? I feel the author lacks the personal background and experience to adequately cover this engaging subject matter, although she does write well, and in an easy-to-read style. Any person other than one of the poor working-class brings too much social conditioning to this subject to be able to comprehend what they are seeing and hearing. There's no need for one of the privileged elite to dip her big toe into the murky waters of poverty, just so she can convey our plight to the world. The Internet has given a voice to the voiceless, and there are plenty of blogs written by those who actually live this life. Paul Theroux wrote: "Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world." This subject should be handled by someone within the poor working-class. However, if one of us wrote a book like this, we would certainly have to publish it on our own, and I guarantee that it would never make the best seller list.

I wish Linda May all the luck in the world building her dream home, and God's blessings upon it when it is completed.

After beginning this book, I described it as recommended reading to a friend. When she asked "Is it depressing?", I told her it was a rather upbeat rendition of a sobering socioeconomic problem in the US. Reading further, I felt that I might have given her an overly rosy view of "Nomadland." While Bruder attempts to portray the optimism of these forced nomads, her deeper analysis of the issues reflects some serious concern. And she mentions that some consider this developing nomadic tribe an "indicator species" — i.e., is it a harbinger of a future, socially embedded and
normalizing trend?

Her descriptions of the talent and creativity of these migrants abandoned by a society with increasing class divides are poignant and sympathetic. Most are senior Baby Boomers who've experienced economic misfortunes — and the demographic has exploded post-Great Recession. That combined with the inability of seniors to compete in a younger workforce merely by virtue of their age is an endemic problem for the aging unemployed.

But they soldier on, most with optimism and even joy at the unexpected freedom of a mostly rent-free life on the road. They form new tribal bonds originating from internet connections and ending around campfires in remote locales far from curious crowds and police surveillance. Most exist on meager social security and no health insurance, but have no problem sharing their last dollars with other struggling compatriots. It's interesting that the US, criticized for its relative lack of tribal bonding, has come to this forced variety of modern family, cemented by common hardships from low paid, no-benefit seasonal employment.

In Bruder's words:

"This is not a wage gap—it's a chasm. And the cost of that growing divide is paid by everyone."

"The result is a de facto caste system. This is not only morally wrong but also tremendously wasteful. Denying access to opportunity for large segments of the population means throwing away vast reserves of talent and brainpower. It's also been shown to dampen economic growth."

One is left to speculate as to how much our thirst for cheap goods and implicit societal validation of wealth polarization have enabled this phenomenon. Certainly, the store benefits and ultimately, its customers. Seniors as campground guardians seem more innocent and even glamorous as contrasted with the grueling seasonal requirements of warehouse work that makes or breaks many of these seniors. Seniors are in demand precisely because of their dedicated work ethic as contrasted with younger Americans with less persistence.

The ability to endure pain during 18 mile, 10 hour days on concrete floors while on an enforced performance timeline is only for the hearty or economically desperate. Whether or not Jeff Bezos could spare some of his fortune as one of the three wealthiest men in the US to increase worker wages and add some genuine benefits is a question left unanswered.

We cannot help but wonder where this is all going. Information from the many blog sites that have brought these folks together has now been amplified by a compelling book that undoubtedly will encourage more nomads. Inevitably, the result will include increased urban crackdowns on indefinite camping, sleeping in vehicles, and harassment of migrants, no matter how well-behaved. Will Walmart continue to allow transient parking? Will it be impossible to find urban overnight spots to rest? Will there even be costly ticketing? And most insidious, will this demographic eventually be restricted to what are essentially economic refugee camps in their own country? The joy they get from the freedom to move on and relocate will vanish. And the much-feared and scorned label of "homeless" will seek them out.

Will corporate niches that see the potential in cheap RVs, tiny houses, and land devoted to hosting these travelers en masse enrich themselves at the expense of the poor? It's an ironic and predictable forecast of runaway capitalism to "solve" a problem this way. Or will society wake up and work for more complex and longer term solutions? It's anybody's guess.

The author is terribly misinformed on her information and analysis on the fulltime RV and Workamping lifestyles. She has in my opinion done a major injustice to the hard working individuals who have retired and chose this lifestyle of RVing and worshiping. Living in a van,car or converted box truck is an individual choice, made with poor decisions. There are many couples, solos and families who love and live this lifestyle on daily basis and are very successful in their endeavors. I have personally been both a paid and volunteer camphor and enjoyed the opportunity. Yes working for the store or the Sugar Beet Harvest is not a walk in the park, but a personal choice and a means to make good money in a short amount of time. I do not believe that the BLM, CLM, National Parks Service, the store or American Sugar Beet, treat the workampers any differently than regular full time employees. Boondocking was a major subject in this book and was not presented in a positive, constructive format, again it is a personal choice you make to reside in a van, travel trailer, fifthwheel or million dollar motor home. I believe the author should revisit and educate herself before she writes another book.

when I received this book I first noticed the cover on the spine had been sliced with a box cutter. Second, I noticed on the front cover and book that’s there were spots of either mud, makeup or feces! Wasn’t going to investigate of whichever it was. And lastly I have attached a photo of the back of the inside binding and it’s ripped to pieces! but I ended up throwing it in the trash. Went to my local B&N and picked up a copy (for the same price minus the crap on the front) and enjoyed a great read. I can’t believe the warehouse workers even thought this was acceptable to send to someone!

As I read Nomadland I concretely saw the reality the author describes throughout the book. I live in one of Florida’s poorest counties, yet drive forty minutes weekly to the coast for a long harbor walk. The juxtaposition is striking: in my cash-strapped town the potholes are seldom repaired. They are simply covered by orange cones, whereas on the coast boats of all types, filled restaurants and many retirees could represent those who “have”. Nomadland would find a home in my county, populated by those who “have not”. Also, I am also uncomfortably close to some of these Nomadlanders. I am over 50, squeak by on my paycheck, have little retirement, and look for lower rent places. I am, as with the number of those discussed in the book marginally non-poor: I get by, but one or two financial hits a row would send me spiraling as I do not have a safety net. Those in nomadland have found safety nets, as it were. They live in RV’s campers, vans, even small cars, and travel around the United States looking for seasonal work to stay afloat .
The ability of the book’s protagonists to survive, to keep going in an economy that may not bless those who grow older and lose their financial base , impacts me. They form communities, bond, learn from each other, and are home free but succeed at wheel estate. Jessica Bruder’s work unveils the reality of many in a country that is “not your father’s” United States, and her research and experience opened her eyes to the homeless near her home in Brooklyn, those in vans with solar panels and curtained windows.
I recommend this book. It highlights not only a social injustice, but an economic reality that seems to have little chance of altering course.

I borrowed Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century from the library but it is definitely a book worth buying.

One of the things that crossed my mind when I read it was it would be nice to see Jeff Bezos on an episode of CBS' Undercover Boss working in one of the store's many warehouses but even if he wouldn't do it on TV hopefully he would do it just to know how it is working there. And I'm not saying that he doesn't already know how it is to work there.

Another thing that is discussed in the book is that California Land Management outsources the hiring of hosts in National Forest campgrounds to outside companies and I would like to know how much it pays those companies. Basically the hosts are grunt workers who are expected to be on call 24 hours and work until everything is done and only get paid for 8 hours of work.

Therefore the grace of God go I.

Nomadland covers an interesting and unique topic -- itinerant workers, mostly elderly, who live in RVs and staff the store warehouses and similar jobs. The author is a journalist who reported on this phenomenon for a couple of years, and eventually wrote this book. She could have taken this topic in any of several interesting directions. She chose to go the hardship direction (i.e., these workers are misused -- underpaid, injured, etc.) even though it seems that her subjects generally do not see themselves as hardship cases. The most interesting passages were about the friendships these workers shared and the fact that many of those chose this difficult style when they could have relied on family members for financial support instead.

The writing style was disjointed, and the book does seem like a collection of serial pieces mashed into one whole. My big gripe with the book, though, is Bruder's strange attempt to insert racial politics near the end of the book. After spending most of the book addressing the plight of these workers, she notes that most of them are white and comments on their "white privilege." How are these people privileged? I thought they were disadvantaged. She provides an example of how they are privileged (I am not making this up): One of the elderly workers was pulled over by a traffic cop named officer Nunez, but the worker got off with a warning. Bruder says that positive result was likely the result of white privilege! (Something tells me that officer "Nunez" is not a white supremacist, but what do I know?)

I don't regret reading the book. I just wish I could have read the straight story without having a trendy, media-compliant PC lesson slapped on the end.

I had to wait to process Jessica Bruder's exceptional book before writing a review as it can be difficult to absorb. Traveling 49 states over 4 decades a part of me knew a Kampforce population was out there traveling the hiways and biways of America long before the Great Recession. Though the US economy is in a so called rebound, this well researched and personally experienced book proves a large group of Americans are far more in dire straits than we hoped. Many of these travelers described their situations as a form of "freedom." I'm sure that is a way to retain their dignity. "Houseless", not homeless they call it. God knows it would be difficult to maintain a positive outlook after being pushed into this way of life. It is often said many Americans are just "one health care bill" away from bankruptcy. But, a broken health care system is just one of the many financial maladies that put these travelers on the road.
I see this as the "underbelly" of a fractured American dream that casts aside rather than assists those who are less fortunate. To me this is a modern day version of "The Grapes of Wrath" stretching like a giant spider web over the Western U.S. Knowing many were traveling with children was heartbreaking. A fascinating and enlightening book but not a comfortable read for the unprepared. This ain't Todd & Buzz traveling Route 66.

This book looks at a growing number of people, usually retirees. Not always by choice, they have abandoned their homes, and are living in a van or trailer or RV as they travel around America.

Perhaps their savings disappeared during the Great Recession, or they are officially "underwater" on their mortgage (owing more than the house is worth). Regardless of the reason, they are living on Social Security as they travel around the country. There are several websites dedicated to the subject. It's possible to make friends with other such "vanampers."

It is also possible to get temporary employment while living in your vehicle. A person, or couple, could, for instance, spend the summer as Camp Hosts at a campsite. Then they could spend a couple of months flipping burgers for a professional baseball team during spring training. More important than the modest pay is the chance to get a safe place to park the vehicle for a time. Then there is working for the store; they call the vanampers their "camperforce." Not all the store warehouses accept them; who wants to live in a van up north during the Christmas rush? It's normal to walk the equivalent of ten or twelve miles a day at an the store warehouse.

There are many things to consider when living in a vehicle. The first night in your vehicle, parked in a parking lot, will be nerve-racking. You fear that any footsteps you hear will be vandals, or the police. A growing number of cities and states have taken to criminalize homelessness. If your vehicle is not set up for it, how do you go to the bathroom, or take a shower?

This is a fascinating, and eye-opening, book. Many Americans are just one layoff, or hospital stay, away from joining the "vanampers." If such a thing is in your near future, start your preparations by reading this book. It is very much worth the time.

Many individuals who used to be middle-class might not be in modern America. There are many causes of this (which is not really explained in the book). The Federal Reserve, for instance, has as part of its mandate to increase the asset values of stocks, real estate, and other assets--which forces the middle class and the poor to pay more for rent. Plus, not only that, the Federal Reserve also lowers the value of the currency. This has forced many people who could earn and maybe develop some savings to find that their dollars buys less and less. If the dollar maintained its value and was backed by something real, we would not have to hear about a surge in so many people in such desperate situations. It is unfortunate that there are many Americans who are unfortunately forced to live in destitute conditions. Also, the increase in immigration of low-skilled individuals also has lowered the bargaining power of low-income Americans. This is unfortunately not discussed in the book. After all, immigration has increased rather dramatically since the 1970s, which is around the same time period that many people who used to be middle class aren't. Just something to consider when reading this book.

By Jessica Bruder
4.5 stars

Excellent journalistic exposé of an American subculture I had no idea existed - mostly older people at or beyond retirement age who, due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances have become homeless - or as most prefer to be labeled, "houseless" - and are living nomadic lives in vans and other vehicles. These folks think positive, work hard, and create community as they struggle to survive. Their experiences as seasonal workers at the store warehouses are eye-opening, shockingly harsh even had they been 25 years younger.

The friendships and generosity between individuals give the book an uplifting tone, as does the dream of the main character, Linda, to build an Earthship - "a passive solar home built using discarded materials...with dirt-filled tires for its load-bearing walls...designed to sustain their inhabitants entirely off the grid." Bruder chronicles the lives of Linda and other colorful characters with obvious affection, concern, and respect. She buys a used van and hits the road, living among them for three years, foregoing creature comforts and at times putting herself at risk. The result is a thorough, readable and timely account of aging Americans who fell victim to the Great Recession and the housing market collapse of 2008 and now find themselves facing old age from the losing side of the increasingly wide gap between rich and poor in our country.

I always knew about the retired folks who drove around the country in campers, but this book is an insight into those who have been displaced into "houselessness", often despite advanced education and a sterling work history. Many of these nomads have no alternative but to follow gig work from state to state.

Friendships are formed, tribes established, and they all make it work, but economics are usually a problem. The author is traveling with mostly older adults, and describes the challenges of finding a (free) place to stay for a night or two. Community or police harassment is frequent, and the issue is always a LIVING PERSON staying inside the vehicle, not the vehicle itself.

I learned a lot, and will listen to this again and again. I am ashamed for my country.

An easy to read firsthand account of what many people are electing to do following an illness, a divorce, loss of work, or other unavoidable devastating financial circumstances. Until recently I thought that becoming a permanent RVer was a choice made by mostly affluent adventure-seeking retirees. I was unaware of the number of people who hit the road because the other options were so bleak. This book was written in a way which left you feeling like you knew people. I’m ready for the sequel!