Daniel Brook Interview

Daniel Brook discusses his book The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America. What is lost when the best and the brightest are corralled into corporate America? Brook argues that the exploding income gap — a product of the misguided conservative ascendance — is systematically dismantling the American dream, as debt-laden, well-educated young people are torn between their passions and the pressure to earn six-figure incomes. Rising education, housing, and health-care costs have made it virtually impossible for all but the corporate elite to enjoy what were once considered middle-class comforts. Thousands are afflicted with a wrenching choice: take up residence on America’s financial and social margins or sell out. When the best and the brightest cannot afford to serve the public good, Brook asks, what are we selling out: an individual’s career, or the very promise of American democracy? Brook is a journalist whose writing has appeared in Harper’s, Dissent, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe, among other publications. Recorded July 17, 2007