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AFTER THE GIG

HOW THE SHARING ECONOMY GOT HIJACKED AND HOW TO WIN IT BACK

The gig economy is a failure, Schor sharply chronicles—but not one that can’t be redeemed by “cooperation and helping.”

Noted technology critic, economist, and sociologist Schor examines the appropriation of job-sharing platforms by corporations, to the detriment of working people and consumers alike.

Working with a team of doctoral candidates over a seven-year period, the author documents the rise and fall of what was once a revolutionary idea hatched during the financial collapse of 2008—namely, that “digital technology could solve the problem of work.” One such problem is bad bosses, unneeded when algorithms can do the job of task assignment and supervision; another is the “nine-to-five grind,” obviated by flexible hours; still another is the lack of reasonable pay, which the digital platforms were supposed to remedy by providing close matches in the supply-and-demand realm. Instead, writes Schor, what happened is that the digital platforms fell into the hands of the suits, who increasingly turned a technological revolution into a profit center. “At their worst,” she holds, “the companies have morphed into predatory employers.” Some of those companies are household names—Uber, Lyft, AirBnB—while others might have been. One such case is Zipcar, which rents cars on a short-term basis to city dwellers in need of a run to the grocery or hardware store but who might otherwise have used public transportation, thereby doing nothing to lessen the urban carbon footprint, “a classic case of unintended consequences.” Sharing platforms as originally conceived by techno-libertarians included such things as a community pub, a “time bank” that allowed people to barter services, and a library of sorts that allowed people to borrow tools. Instead, what they’ve devolved to are things like the economic “wild goose chase” by which drivers-for-hire cruise the streets looking for clients and algorithm-driven food-delivery services with punishing fees for restaurateurs. The author, a nimble writer, concludes that “social technology” has to match technology itself, the foremost need being “learning how to share.”

The gig economy is a failure, Schor sharply chronicles—but not one that can’t be redeemed by “cooperation and helping.”

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-520-32505-0

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Univ. of California

Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

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Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

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TANQUERAY

A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.

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A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.

Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.

A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.

Pub Date: July 12, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2

Page Count: 192

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022

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