Eula Biss is the author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller On Immunity: An Inoculation, which was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review, and Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Her work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The New York Times, The Believer, and elsewhere, and has been supported by an NEA Literature Fellowship, a Howard Foundation Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Praise for Having and Being Had "A sensational book . . .
Keenly aware of her privilege as a white, well-educated woman who
has benefited from a wide network of family and friends, Biss has
written a book that is, in effect, the opposite of capitalism in
its willingness to acknowledge that everything she's accomplished
rests on the labor of others." --Associated Press "Sharp and
snappy. . . . Having and Being Had picks apart the ethics
behind our capitalist society, culminating in a powerful look at
the ways in which we assign value to the people, places and things
that comprise our lives." --Time
"Incisive, impressive and often poetic . . .The marvel of this
book, and of Ms. Biss's prose in general, is the spare and engaging
way she interrogates such complex and abstract concepts. With
references to Adam Smith and Dire Straits, Karl Marx and
Scooby-Doo, she turns what is essentially a chronicle of white
guilt and anxious privilege into a thoughtful and nuanced
meditation on the compromises inherent in having a comfortable
life." --The Wall Street Journal "A major achievement.
Having and Being Had, rather than leading through narrative,
turns individual words and phrases, like capitalism,
consumers, great America, husbandry,
art, and work, into fields of inquiry in order to
frame a life. With astute consideration, this expansive and
intimate accumulation asks the questions that touch all our lives."
--Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen "Curious, sharp, funny
(truly) and full of questions we, as a society, have forgotten how
to ask about how we spend, what we buy [and] why we work."
--NPR
"Biss has long been drawn to topics that lend themselves to
polemic, which she approaches in a spirit that's resolutely
unpolemical. Her intellect is omnivorous, roving, and humane. . . .
That clarity of purpose is what makes Biss refreshing. . . . Her
commitment to her art is complete and unembarrassable." --The Cut
"Having and Being Had delights because of Biss's frankness . . .
[Biss] richly peoples Having and Being Had with friends, neighbors,
and family, bringing into conversation scholars, theorists,
economists, and writers ranging from Emily Dickinson to the late
David Graeber. She challenges the reader's ideas of words once
thought familiar--leisure, service, investment--and tests the
tensions between work, art, and money." --The Rumpus
"If you feel weird about your privilege and role in capitalism,
then much of this incisive essay collection will resonate with you.
If not, you should read it anyway--perhaps especially then. It
takes a hard look at the trappings and impacts of wealth in a way
that will make you think about your life, too." --Good Housekeeping
"Eula Biss's prescient new book gave me new language for things I
didn't know I felt about money, capitalism, and my place inside of
an economy that always requires so much of me and gives back so
little. A brilliant, lacerating reexamination of our relationship
to what we own and why, and who in turn might own us in ways we
didn't know we consented to--what could be more necessary now?"
--Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical
Novel "[Biss writes with] confidence, accessibility, and
provocation. . . [Her] writing is calm and precise, without
flourish, so clear it belies the difficulty of writing prose so
crystalline." --Chicago Tribune "[Biss explores] the candid
ways we reveal our own biases around money, class, wealth, property
and work. . . . Having and Being Had is a reminder that even
discussing our contemporary chaos is an act of awakening and a call
to action." --Los Angeles Times "Excellent . . . Biss is
unflinching when broaching [her] often taboo subjects, and
approaches them through a personal lens, writing about her own
experience with home-ownership, gentrification, marital equality,
motherhood, and being a working artist." --Refinery29 "A
collection of essays circling elegantly around the object of her
study. . . . [that is, ] the moments we realize that consumerism
has begun to rust our souls." --The New Republic
"Delicious . . . Biss is not only unafraid of taboo, she
leans into it. She uses the form of the essay to interrogate, break
apart, and complicate something in order to make it fully known and
understood. . . . Disarming and effective." --The Washington
Independent Review of Books
"With her signature moving and relatable prose, Eula Biss wrestles
honestly with the everyday contradictions that accompany the effort
to be a good person (and a good artist) in a capitalist world."
--ARTnews
"Compulsively readable . . . blends research, reflection and richly
rendered personal experience. . . . This is a book that asks to be
read, absorbed and read again." --BookPage "[A] strong new
meditation on buying and owning in a society as a white woman where
some people descend from Americans once considered property
themselves. . . . This is an essential book for our out-of-control
times." --Lit Hub
"A stylish, meditative inquiry into the function and meaning of
21st-century capitalism. . . . Biss doesn't shy away from
acknowledging her own privilege, and laces her reflections with
unexpected insights and a sharp yet ingratiating sense of humor. .
. . this eloquent, well-informed account recasts the everyday world
in a sharp new light." --Publishers Weekly "Eula Biss is known for
stepping off the plank into turbulent waters that others might fear
or avoid, armed with wry wit and a radical lucidity. Having and
Being Had continues this journey, offering us a probing tour of
capitalism and class that sidesteps posturing and jargon in favor
of clarity, humility, and incitement." --Maggie Nelson, author
of The Argonauts "No contemporary writer I know explores and
confronts her own societal responsibilities better than Eula Biss.
In Having and Being Had she unpacks capitalism as a lived practice
of a thinking person. She makes you surprised and delighted by the
way she extracts complex ideas from mundane situations."
--Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project "In this
witty, genre-bending book, Eula Biss smashes the taboo against
talking about money with exhilarating results. Her investigation
ranges from the strictly financial to the broadly philosophical as
she accounts for her life with disarming honesty and grace."
--Jenny Offill, author of
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