Class counts : education, inequality, and the shrinking middle class /

The gap between rich and poor in the US has increased dramatically. Ornstein (education, St. John's Univ.) comprehensively presents the history of inequality, including divergent perspectives, current data, and progressive measures to fight this second "Gilded Age." The massive data includes such statistics as that the top 1 percent owns about 33 percent of all US wealth, and only 3 percent of youth from the bottom quartile attend elite colleges. Most Americans struggle to get by, they have lost their competitive edge, and "political and business thugs" prevail in Washington and Wall Street. Ornstein argues that education has limited effectiveness due to the enormous gap. As a liberal centrist, the author argues for such reforms as increasing progressive taxes, retaining estate taxes, and providing universal health insurance and college tuition. The book is written in a conversational tone, which is both its strength and weakness: it is accessible but needs editing; redundancies abound. The book also has errors, including blaming Charles Darwin for social Darwinism. Nevertheless, it is useful for studies in inequality. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. S. D. Borchert emerita, Lake Erie College