Structure

The setting of this book ranges geographically from New York to Savannah, Berkeley to Paris, Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. Its social setting is primarily the middle and lower middle class of American society that is severely battered by the huge shift in wealth and power of the last two decades. As the comfort and security of middle class life deteriorate, more wealth is concentrated at the top one percent. The setting is the troubled lives of Americans caught in this receding tide of prosperity.

Perspective

The author employs a journalistic voice while reporting on deep fissures within American society. The point of view is thus that of the detached observer, although this does not prevent the author from using salty language on occasion to describe some of the hellish quandaries created by the many inequities of this system.

Tone

The tone employed is mostly middle class...