Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I got an advanced copy of this book back in January. When I see these one star diatribes I know none of these people got even 20 pages into it. This is not a sales book--Warren is not telling us why we should believe this or support this. Rather, it's more of a journal of how she got started, the luck and decisions that led her from job to job--and how she ultimately ended up in board rooms trying to convince bankers that short-term success wasn't always in their best interest. Her studies of bankruptcy and credit cards and ballooned mortgages show us that it's not just about individuals but how our economy is affected as a whole. Of course, you can disagree with her liberal positions on a lot of things, but again, the book isn't trying to sway the reader to get on the bandwagon. If anything, she's more like a scientist: she shows evidence of patterns and statistics that show how a shrinking middle class threatens our future and how tax loop holes only serve those who don't even need them. It's written with eloquence and candor (and sometimes a bit of frustration) but for the most part it tells of how she got where she is and why she can't just ignore the laws that truly threaten lower class families. When she wrote THE TWO INCOME TRAP a decade ago she showed us that we get fooled into believing that hard work always pays off and that doing he right thing will always protect you in the end. Not so. In an economy like this one, the strong always maintain greater control and the weak stay weak--or slip even further behind. Is she right every time?--of course not. There really ARE poor people who buck the system--just like there are very rich people who do as well. But Elizabeth Warren shows with great clarity how the economy is hurt more by the rich who escape on technicalities than by the poor who milk the system. Again, not every theory she expresses is perfect, and we'll never have a perfectly even system, but Warren breaks down how a more even economy will ultimately lead to a better future. She's entitled to that opinion, and her extensive research makes it clear that she's looked at this from many different angles. Which is more than the one-star reviewers can say.