Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do Book

Back in 2008, Mr. Thompson, who was thirty years old, decided to spend a year investigating jobs most Americans would not do. He was undercover doing something called immersion journalism. The three jobs he selected were harvesting lettuce, working in a poultry plant, and also being employed in the back room of a restaurant. The author focused on industries that rely heavily on Latino immigrants. His plan was to physically work two months at each place and write a book about his experiences. Wow, his commitment was far more intense than when I picked potatoes in Northern Maine for three weeks in the early Fall. It was during the 1970s and I was in my early teens. We'd rise at 4:30 AM and usually were home around 6 PM. In that three-week period, you went to bed dead tired, muscles aching, and when you closed your eyes in an effort to fall asleep you could hear the tractor's squeaky potato digger that haunted your workday. A bath was mandatory because you were coated in a day's worth of dirt and dust. Your boogers were globs of muddy mucus and, when you broke wind, they smelled exactly like godawful rotten potatoes. It was piece work and we made a lot of money from a kid's perspective, but after three weeks we were thrilled it was done for another year. Picking potatoes as a full-time job was unthinkable. The same cannot be said for the people who inhabit 'Working in the Shadows.' Latino immigrants do it for years or decades.

The book was published in 2010. Besides describing the difficult work involved in each career, the author explains immigration policy, poor pay, nonpayment of wages, unsafe working conditions, unsanitary housing, and the seizure of their passports as well as work visas by the employers. Beyond the punishing nature of the work, the immigrants are exposed to harmful pesticides, and have poor access to medical care. By describing his own experiences as well as telling the stories of some immigrant workers, Mr. Thompson keeps the book very well grounded. Surprisingly, 'Working in the Shadows' is not gloomy journalism. There is humor and a sense of decency about the people who the author works alongside. Some of the material is quite shocking. Beyond the low pay and "grinding, deadening work," the author also shows most have frequent health emergencies, a complete lack of savings, and premature aging is endemic. In the poultry industry, Mr. Thompson noticed that anyone over forty had front teeth missing. New York City's underground economy is teeming with exploitation of legal and illegal immigrants AND U.S. citizens. Shaving a worker's hours is rampant in the city's restaurant industry. Systemic racism factors into the various pay levels used by businesses. Mr. Thompson's descriptions are not only found in the jobs he did. It is a national issue found in both rural and urban areas. The book is not preachy until the author's Conclusion and Afterword chapters.

If you read Mr. Thompson's book and still believe immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans and sucking extravagantly off the government teat, then you, my dear friend, have less critical-thinking skills than what the author was harvesting in those lettuce fields or you likely have the empathy of Hannibal Lecter. The Latinos, African-Americans, and poor whites depicted have an amazing work ethic and are an important component to our society. However, exploitation of them for corporate or shareholder greed lingers throughout 'Working in the Shadows.' Mr. Thompson is not patronizing to either the workers or the reader. The author has done a huge public service by documenting his experiences. I hope the book is widely read.