Author Describes a Lessened, But Still Can-Do Janesville in Law School Program
Amy Goldstein, author of Janesville: An American Story, says her goal in writing the book was not to offer policy prescriptions, but “to get people to think” about what changes in the American economy have meant to everyday people and communities.
The book is, indeed, thought-provoking, not to mention highly readable and important. In an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Marquette Law School on Wednesday, Goldstein, talked about the context and content of the book.
In what she refers to as her day job, she has been a Washington Post reporter for nearly three decades, currently covering health policy issues. She told Gousha that in the late 2000s, she felt that the story of what was happening at the ground level of changes in the American economy hadn’t been given enough attention. That led her to decide to write a book about a community that had been changed by the changes, and to choose Janesville, where the General Motors plant that was the dominant economic presence in town had closed in 2008.