Reviews

"Almost unseen by anyone but a cadre of specialized lawyers, people in bankruptcy number in the millions. Grounded in data analysis, Debt’s Grip brings to life the stories of those who solved their problems in the most modern and American of ways—by borrowing. Bankruptcy shows us the underbelly of consumer lending, the pain of people who collectively are the reality of macroeconomic trends like consumer spending and inflation. This book points squarely to the hardships that should center debate about what a thriving economy looks like or what constitutes an adequate social safety net."

—Katie Porter, former US Representative and Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law

"Transforming cold statistics into heartbreaking stories of the people who file for bankruptcy, Debt's Grip is an important corrective to the many falsehoods that portray debtors as mere deadbeats, showing that those who seek bankruptcy protection—inadequate as it may be—have been left without alternatives by catastrophes and systemic societal failures."

—Edward Boltz, attorney and former President of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney

"Debt’s Grip vividly illustrates how Americans are struggling to pay their bills, gripped by fear and shame, because this country fails to provide a humane social safety net—leaving far too many of our most vulnerable citizens to fend for themselves."

—A. Mechele Dickerson, author of The Middle-Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream

"Deeply researched, powerfully argued, and frequently moving, Debt’s Grip lays bare how the ever-growing financial precarity of American workers and their families affects us all. An essential guide to US economic discontent—and what must be done to reverse it."

—Jacob S. Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream

"Grounded in meticulous interdisciplinary research, Debt's Grip is an accessible and essential resource documenting the broad but uneven distribution of precarity in America."

—Melissa B. Jacoby, author of Unjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal

“Through meticulous analysis of bankruptcy court records and surveys, this compelling book reveals how decades of policy choices have pushed financial risk onto everyday Americans, creating widespread economic precarity. Charting surveys and their meticulous review of bankruptcy court records, the authors masterfully demonstrate how bankruptcy filings illuminate broader societal failures that leave millions struggling to survive.”

—Christopher K. Odinet, author of ​Foreclosed: Mortgage Servicing and the Hidden Architecture of Homeownership in America

“Anyone serious about finding solutions to today’s problems must read this book. Consumer debt is key to understanding the lives of many Americans, and no other book tells this story of personal struggle, sacrifice, tragedy, and hope with such clarity.”

—John Rao, Senior Attorney, National Consumer Law Center

"This timely and incisive book reveals the lived experience of financial precarity and the impact on ordinary people and daily life of the retreat of social policy from key issues of making a living, having a place to live, and caring for those who depend on us. A readable and thought-provoking study that will engage readers interested in big questions of inequality and social policy as well as those interested in bankruptcy."

—Rebecca Sandefur, sociologist and MacArthur Fellow