This was the book I needed to read 30 years ago. It would have helped me understand so much about my own family's social class situation. I don't appreciate it any less for having gotten my hands on it decades later than I would have hoped. It is the history of the United States from the perspective of the underclass. It is the truth about opportunity in this country if you haven't been asked to face the class system head on. What I appreciated the most was that my family experienced downward mobility when my father became sick. He turned yellow when he got sick because his liver was involved. The author talks about how the white trash people were yellow. This particular connection was poignant for me. I won't give away any spoilers, but the book is full of interesting facts from history that I never knew. My jaw dropped more than one time.