Scratch beginnings

One on my favorite books ever is Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, which describes how hard it is for minimum wage workers in America to scrape by. It's a great book in that it exposes how terribly these workers are treated, but it is definitely a depressing read. Adam Shepard set out to prove Ehrenreich wrong and to show that it is possible to get out of poverty. In Scratch Beginnings, Shepard tells of how he left home shortly after graduating from college with only $25 and a sleeping bag. He had a set of goals to achieve in the next year, like buying a car, being able to afford an apartment, and even saving money. While he may not have found the American Dream in that year, his hard work makes for an inspirational story.

-Amy