friends, i have not read rifkin's book, mostly because i think he is something of a charlatan. i have read aronowitz's and difazio's book, and i have written a review of it for science and society. it is not especially well-written and it is full of jargon. it certainly never demonstrates that we are headed toward a jobless future. what is interesting is the generally positive responses which these books have elicited, especially from the left-liberal press (i.e. the ..nation and the progressive and like journals). i wrote a book, longer hours, fewer jobs (the fewer jobs is meant in juxtopsition to the longer hours-people are working more hours at the same time that relatively more people are un and under employed) around the same time that these two books were published. it struck me that i could not get this book reviewed in most left-liberal magazines. my book is certainly better written than aronowitz's and difazio's. it is accessible to a mass audience, and i know that it has been read by many working people, from the workers i teach to the cook at the day care center at which my wife and daughter work. ordinary people find the book very readable and quite interesting, despite the fact that it is a book about the economy. at the same time, the book is uncompromisingly radical ( i accuse our government of murdering people every time it enacts policies which raise the unemployment rate) and it has considerable theoretical content. what i wonder is - why do some authors get reviewed in the "right places while other do not, despite the fact that many of the books written in the rifkin mode are pretty worthless and will never be read by average people. i wonder sometimes if leftist intellectuals have any real desire to communicate radically with "the masses". for example, the united electrical workers journal gave my book a rave review, but chris tilly, writing in dollars and sense, complains that my book is too direct, that is, lacks sufficient cynicism and irony. take a look at his book about part-time workers and ask yourself whether you would rather give it or my book to your favorite factory worker or secretary or janitor or sales clerk to read. michael yates
