Reviews for After The Disciplines

The average rating for After The Disciplines based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-02-15 00:00:00 Joakim Stålborg An unusual look at the hallowed halls of Harvard University -- as seen through the eyes of the "unseen" -- the laborers, electricians dining hall waitstaff, and low-paid, overworked housekeeping staff. They are the wheels and cogs that put the veneer on the Harvard image that is so well known. These are the people that we may not so much think about on a conscious level, but without them, the university does notoperate so seamlessly. This volume shows how they work tirelessly oftentimes, and for the most part, are unappreciated, both momentarily and emotionally, like used aluminum foil. These are the people who deserve to enjoy the "Fight for $15" and more; we must remember that higher institutions of learning are more than professors, students, and frat life -- there are "real" people behind the scenes who make all of the star players look so good.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-23 00:00:00 Kathy Paduano-moskalyk Straightforward, unpretentious reporting of events at Harvard after some students, including this author, saw the stark contrast between Harvard's burgeoning endowment funds and its penny-pinching way with the hourly wages of the people doing menial ("of or relating to servants") work on campus. That student concern became the Living Wage Campaign which worked several years to finally see the lowest-paid workers getting about $11 an hour instead of less than $7. Most of the text consists of transcripts of conversations with the workers about their work and their efforts to support their families decently. As Studs Terkel says in his foreword, "The custodians of Harvard now have faces and voices and they are eloquent, natural-born storytellers." Much of the power of the book is in the author's fine photographs (portraits) of workers in their work settings, and of the campaign's sit-in, and of Harvard's negotiating team as they considered the demands for some step toward reasonable wages.