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Scratch Beginnings

Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream

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Scratch Beginnings

Written by: Adam Shepard
Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
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About this listen

What can you get with 25 dollars and a dream? Adam Shepard graduated from college feeling disillusioned by the apathy around him and was then incensed after reading Barbara Ehrenreich's famous work Nickel and Dimed- a book that gave him a feeling of hopelessness about the working class in America. He set out to disprove Ehrenreich's theory - the notion that those who start at the bottom stay at the bottom - by making something out of nothing to achieve the American Dream. Shepard's plan was simple. With a sleeping bag, the clothes on his back, and $25 in cash, and restricted from using his contacts or college education, he headed out for Charleston, South Carolina, a randomly selected city, with one objective: to work his way out of homelessness and into a life that would give him the opportunity for success. His goal was to have, after one year, $2,500, a working automobile, and a furnished apartment. Scratch Beginnings is the earnest and passionate account of Shepard.

©2008 Adam Shepard (P)2011 Tantor Economics Poverty & Homelessness Social Sciences Dream

What the critics say

"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)
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