“Intriguing, provocative, and revealing.”—Felicia R. Lee, Washington Post

"In vivid, animated prose, Steve Fraser has combined history, economics, autobiography and home truths. The result is a pleasure to read—an illuminating, insightful summary of our nation's class conundrums."—Phillip Lopate

"Class Matters is a fluent and incisive analysis of where power lies in America. It sets about studying and debunking myths and replacing them with uncomfortable truths about poverty and wealth, privilege and inequality. It is written with passion and wit and a sense of urgency and deep personal engagement."—Colm Tóibín

“A devastatingly clear analysis of how class and class conflict suffuse the American present and the American past, despite vigorous efforts to deny their salience, even their existence. Written with great elegance and admirable concision, Class Matters offers nothing less than a pathbreaking reconceptualization of the entire American narrative.”—Mike Wallace, author of Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919

"A remarkable inquiry into the nature of class in America: sweeping, yet intensely personal; erudite, yet written with literary flair; exploring disparate spheres of American life, yet demonstrating how class privilege and injury permeate them all. An extraordinary achievement.”—Gary Gerstle, author of Liberty and Coercion: The Paradox of American Government from the Founding to the Present

“Class Matters is a bold and brilliant account of how the subject of class was expunged from American consciousness and culture. I finished it with regret, because there were no more fascinating pages to read, but also with delight, because I had found someone new to learn from.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America