If you think it’s getting harder to both make a living and make a life, economist and former secretary of labor Robert Reich agrees with you. Americans may be earning more than ever before, but we’re paying a steep price: we’re working longer, seeing our families less, and our communities are fragmenting.

With the clarity and insight that are his hallmarks, Reich delineates what success has come to mean in our time. He demonstrates that although we have more choices as consumers, and investors, the choices themselves are undermining the rest of our lives. It is getting harder for people to be confident of what they will be earning next year, or even next month. At the same time, our society is splitting into socially stratified enclaves--the wealthier walled off and gated, the poorer isolated and ignored. Although the trends he discusses are powerful, they are not irreversible, and Reich makes provocative suggestions for how we might create a more balanced society and more satisfying lives. Some of his ideas may surprise you; all should spark a healthy–and essential–national debate.

羅伯‧萊奇（Robert B. Reich）

美國布蘭迪斯大學社會與經濟學教授。曾於柯林頓主政期間擔任勞工部長（1992- 1996），推動多項法案並改造勞工部，但因有感於犧牲了家庭生活，任職四年後即自行請辭。他是政論雜誌《美國展望》（The American Prospect）的共同創辦人及主編，文章散見於《紐約客》《亞特蘭大月刊》《紐約時報》《華盛頓郵報》《華爾街日報》等。

對於新經濟的變化，萊奇自有一套獨特的看法，本書記述他對新經濟的觀察結果，也提出他如何重新詮釋及思考工作與生活的問題。

萊奇的其他著作包括《國家的職責》（The Work of Nations）、《困在內閣》（Locked in the Cabinet）等。最新消息是正在參選麻州州長。