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Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do

A common anti-immigration refrain is that immigrants take jobs away from Americans. What is it like to stoop over lettuce fields in Arizona, work the graveyard shift at a chicken slaughterhouse in rural Alabama, and dodge taxis as a bicycle delivery boy for an upscale restaurant? To find out, Gabriel Thompson spent a year working in these environments alongside Latino immigrants. By combining investigative reporting with his personal narrative, Thompson exposes the underbelly of the American economy and tells the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants, and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of $8 an hour.

Guest:

Gabriel Thompson, recipient of the Richard J. Margolis Award, the Studs Terkel Media Award and a contributor to The Nation and New York Times, among others; he is also the author of "There's No José Here" and, most recently, "Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do"