{"product_id":"debts-grip-risk-and-consumer-bankruptcy-hardcover","title":"Debt's Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePamela Foohey\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eRobert M. Lawless\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eDeborah Thorne\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDebt's Grip\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of financial struggle in the United States. Drawing on original data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a landmark long-term study, the authors use the words of bankruptcy filers themselves to shed light on their battles to keep their homes and their cars, pay for healthcare and higher education, care for their children, find adequate employment, retire, negotiate with debt collectors, and confront discrimination in lending. Laying bare the consequences of risk privatization, this book makes a powerful case for why the United States must confront the structural inequities that cause so many--especially Black families, women, and the elderly--to struggle in today's economy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"Almost unseen by anyone but a cadre of specialized lawyers, people in bankruptcy number in the millions. Grounded in data analysis, \u003ci\u003eDebt's Grip\u003c\/i\u003e brings to life the stories of those who solved their problems in the most modern and American of ways--by borrowing. Bankruptcy shows us the underbelly of consumer lending, the pain of people who collectively are the reality of macroeconomic trends like consumer spending and inflation. This book points squarely to the hardships that should center debate about what a thriving economy looks like or what constitutes an adequate social safety net.\"--Katie Porter, former US Representative and Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Deeply researched, powerfully argued, and frequently moving, \u003ci\u003eDebt's Grip \u003c\/i\u003elays bare how the ever-growing financial precarity of American workers and their families affects us all. An essential guide to US economic discontent--and what must be done to reverse it.\"--Jacob S. Hacker, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"This timely and incisive book reveals the lived experience of financial precarity and the impact on ordinary people and daily life of the retreat of social policy from key issues of making a living, having a place to live, and caring for those who depend on us. A readable and thought-provoking study that will engage readers interested in big questions of inequality and social policy as well as those interested in bankruptcy.\"--Rebecca Sandefur, sociologist and MacArthur Fellow \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Through meticulous analysis of bankruptcy court records and surveys, this compelling book reveals how decades of policy choices have pushed financial risk onto everyday Americans, creating widespread economic precarity. Charting surveys and their meticulous review of bankruptcy court records, the authors masterfully demonstrate how bankruptcy filings illuminate broader societal failures that leave millions struggling to survive.\"--Christopher K. Odinet, author of ​\u003ci\u003eForeclosed: Mortgage Servicing and the Hidden Architecture of Homeownership in America\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Transforming cold statistics into heartbreaking stories of the people who file for bankruptcy, \u003ci\u003eDebt's Grip\u003c\/i\u003e is an important corrective to the many falsehoods that portray debtors as mere deadbeats, showing that those who seek bankruptcy protection--inadequate as it may be--have been left without alternatives by catastrophes and systemic societal failures.\"--Edward Boltz, attorney and former President of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eDebt's Grip\u003c\/i\u003e vividly illustrates how Americans are struggling to pay their bills, gripped by fear and shame, because this country fails to provide a humane social safety net--leaving far too many of our most vulnerable citizens to fend for themselves.\"--A. Mechele Dickerson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Middle-Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Grounded in meticulous interdisciplinary research, \u003ci\u003eDebt's Grip\u003c\/i\u003e is an accessible and essential resource documenting the broad but uneven distribution of precarity in America.\"--Melissa B. Jacoby, author of \u003ci\u003eUnjust Debts: How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Anyone serious about finding solutions to today's problems must read this book. Consumer debt is key to understanding the lives of many Americans, and no other book tells this story of personal struggle, sacrifice, tragedy, and hope with such clarity.\"--John Rao, Senior Attorney, National Consumer Law Center \u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePamela Foohey\u003c\/b\u003e is the Allen Post Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. \u003cb\u003eRobert M. Lawless\u003c\/b\u003e is the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at the University of Illinois. \u003cb\u003eDeborah Thorne\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of Sociology at the University of Idaho.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 308\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.81 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 05, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50737554686258,"sku":"9780520394148","price":178.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0961\/1608\/0946\/files\/yGN1z4bL-V9780520394148.webp?v=1766040939","url":"https:\/\/deskinlawfirm.com\/products\/debts-grip-risk-and-consumer-bankruptcy-hardcover","provider":"DLF Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}