"DON'T believe the naysayers. The American Dream--the fable that says if you work hard and follow the rules, you'll make it--is alive and well."
--New York Post

Adam W. Shepard's Scratch Beginnings is the fascinating and eye-opening account of the grand social experiment the author undertook in response to Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. Subtitled "Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream," Scratch Beginnings chronicles Shepard's successful efforts to raise himself up from self-imposed rock bottom in one year's time--a personal...