Book Review…..Debt’s Grip

This new book looks like a great one …….

Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy

by Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, and Deborah Thorne

Debt’s Grip uses eleven years of court records and surveys to describe what it means to live in financial precarity in the United States. Bankruptcy filers describe the privations and struggles they suffered. It documents the increasingly lengthy period of time people sit in the financial “sweatbox” before filing bankruptcy. 

Several chapters are built around types of debts– home and car debts, medical debts, and credit card and other unsecured debts. An additional chapter discusses how the bankruptcy system both reflects and exacerbates larger patterns of racial inequality. 

Another chapter looks at the over-representation of women and especially single women raising children. 

The book examines the fastest growing group of bankruptcy filers — adults age 65 and over. 

The book then turns to how debt collection and changes in that industry have shaped bankruptcy filings. 

The book costs $25, which is a lot. You can read a 33-page preview on Google before you buy, however.