Bibliography
Guided Explorations texts
“What Can You Do With an English Major?” Queens College English Department. https://qcenglish.commons.gc.cuny.edu/undergraduate/horizons/
“Why your college major doesn’t dictate your career path.” Emily Schoch, Baylor Lariat. https://baylorlariat.com/2024/09/23/why-your-college-major-doesnt-dictate-your-career-path/
“Your College Major May Not Be As Important As You Think.” Zac Bissonnette, New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/major/
“What Being Incarcerated Taught One Public Defender About the Criminal Justice System.” Josiah Bates, Time Magazine. https://time.com/6116992/keeda-haynes-criminal-justice-reform/
Alumni Put Environmental Science Degrees to Work at Chesapeake Watershed Initiative. Caroline Miller, F & M Stories. https://www.fandm.edu/stories/alumni-put-environmental-science-degrees-to-work.html
Julia Dorf ’24 Forges Her Future in Medical Innovation. F & M Stories. https://www.fandm.edu/stories/public-health-biology-alumni-nyu-langone-health-neurology.html
“Department of History alumni profiles.” University of Nevada-Reno. https://www.unr.edu/history/why-study-history/alumni
“A Conversation on Making the Switch from Psychology to UX Research.” Camille Basilio, Medium.com. http://bit.ly/4mwy6tf
“Alumni Profiles.” CCNY Economics and Business. http://bit.ly/4ol5O6t
“With Ethics in Mind.” Baruch Alumni Magazine. https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/bcam/2025/01/02/with-ethics-in-mind/
“Thoughts from Alumni: Careers.” Cornell University Department of History. https://history.cornell.edu/thoughts-alumni-careers
“Alumni Profiles.” UMBC Department of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies. https://gwst.umbc.edu/alumni-profiles/
Case Study texts
Books about work, for a more general audience, to draw case studies from
Working by Studs Terkel
“Studs Terkel’s classic oral history Working is a compelling look at jobs and the people who do them. Consisting of over one hundred interviews with everyone from a gravedigger to a studio head, this book provides a “brilliant” and enduring portrait of people’s feelings about their working lives. This edition includes a new foreword by New York Times journalist Adam Cohen” -Forbes
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Narrative journalism about doctors’ blind spots in an end-of-life care context. The issues might be a little too specialized for our course, but the writing is good enough that the case studies could yield more general workplace analysis.
Gig: Americans Talk about their Jobs, edited by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe and Sabin Streeter
“For three years, the editors of Word, a leading web magazine, sent interviewers all over America to question people about their work. There are the conventional jobs – lawyer, nurse, steelworker, actor, journalist; the not so conventional jobs – clutter consultant, adhesives company sales rep, heavy metal roadie, buffalo rancher, supermodel; and the just plain bizarre job – crime scene cleaner, adult web mistress, Elvis Presley interpreter, telephone psychic, Wal-Mart Greeter. And everything in between – 120 different jobs in total. Inspired by Studs Terkel’s 1972 classic book, Working, these interviews have spawned a collection of fabulous monologues: people talking about what their jobs are really like and how they make them feel about themselves.” –synopsis from Book Outlet
Who is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, edited by Michael Lewis
“Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers, including Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell, to join him in finding someone doing an interesting job for the government and writing about them. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees.” -excerpted from Penguin Books
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
Anthropological examination of how much white collar professional work has become meaningless and superfluous – though it justifies wealth inequality and class hierarchy. The book is a political provocation but it’s also a collection of rich and interesting case studies that professors might be able to use to generate premises for assignments and discussion.
The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Case studies examining two professions: flight attendants and bill collectors. Hochschild’s book is an argument about how the intense emotional labor (“feeling rules”) exemplified by both these types of jobs has concerning implications.
Nightshift NYC by Cheryl Harris Sharman and Russell Leigh Sharman
Profiles of nightshift workers in NYC.
Articles by profession/field:
Land Management and Environmental Policy
- John Seabrook, “In an Age of Climate Change, How do we Cope with Floods?” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/28/in-an-age-of-climate-change-how-do-we-cope-with-floods (Water Management Engineer)
- M.R. O’Connor, “Inside the Fight Against a Los Angeles Inferno.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/02/03/inside-the-fight-against-a-los-angeles-inferno (Firefighter)
- Paige Williams, “Lake Tahoe’s Bear Boom.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/02/lake-tahoes-bear-boom (Wildlife Management, Forestry Worker)
Healthcare / Medicine
- Susan Burton, “This American Life, Episode 864: Chicago Hope.” https://www.thisamericanlife.org/864/chicago-hope (Ob/Gyn Surgeon)
- Joshua Rothman, “A Family Doctor’s Search for Salvation.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/21/greg-gulbransen-profile-doctor-pediatrician (Physician, Social Worker)
- Rachel Pearson, “Bedside Manners.” https://harpers.org/archive/2025/10/bedside-manners-rachel-pearson-empathy-medical-education/ (Physician)
- Stephanie Taladrid, “The Texas OB/GYN Exodus.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/02/the-texas-ob-gyn-exodus (Reproductive Healthcare Provider)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 4, “A stillness.” (ER Nurse)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 5, “Stay awake.” (Respiratory Therapist)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 6, “You have to give up something.” (Nurse)
- Atul Gawande, Being Mortal.
- Gig, Chapter 11, “Children and Teachers: Labor-Support Doula.”
- Gig, Chapter 14, “Bodies and Souls (Various cases).”
Postal Service / Mail Carrier
- Ira Glass, “This American Life, Episode 838 (Prologue): Letters! Actual Letters!” https://www.thisamericanlife.org/838/letters-actual-letters
Education / Schoolteaching
- Alec MacGillis, “Has School Become Optional?” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/15/has-school-become-optional (Teacher, Principal)
- This American Life, “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors.” Act 4. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/818/stand-clear-of-the-closing-doors (Teacher, School Counselor)
- Hua Hsu, “What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing?” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/07/the-end-of-the-english-paper (Teacher, Professor, Higher Education Administrator)
- Emma Green, “What Comes After D.E.I.?” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/21/what-comes-after-dei (Professor, Higher Ed Administrator)
- Gig, Chapter 9, “Sports and Gambling: High School Basketball Coach.”
- Gig, Chapter 11, “Children and Teachers: Second-Grade Teacher; High School Math Teacher; College Professor.”
Film / TV / Advertising
- Emily Nussbaum, “Is ‘Love is Blind’ a Toxic Workplace?” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/27/is-love-is-blind-a-toxic-workplace (TV Editor, Producer, Videographer)
- Jennifer Wilson, “How I Learned to Become an Intimacy Coordinator.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/16/how-i-learned-to-become-an-intimacy-coordinator (Intimacy Coordinator)
- Rachel Syme, “The Hollywood Slog that Led Adam Scott to ‘Severance.’” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/12/30/adam-scott-profile (Actor)
- Gig, Chapter 6, “Food: Food Stylist.”
Science and Energy
- Dirty Work, chapter 9, “Dirty energy.” (Engineer / Oil Rig Worker)
- Sharon Lerner, “How 3M Discovered, then Concealed, the Dangers of Forever Chemicals.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/27/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-toxic (Corporate Scientist)
Housing and Public Housing Administration
- This American Life, “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors.” Prologue, Act 2 and Act 5. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/818/stand-clear-of-the-closing-doors (Supportive Housing Advocate)
- Jennifer Egan, “A Journey from Homeless to a Room of One’s Own.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/09/18/a-journey-from-homelessness-to-a-room-of-ones-own (Homeless Services and Supportive Housing Administrator)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 13, “The real hard core.” (Homeless Advocate / Resource Provider)
Mortician / Cemetery Director
- Paige Williams, “Green-Wood Cemetery’s Living Dead.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/09/green-wood-cemeterys-living-dead
- Gig, Chapter 14, “Bodies and Souls: Funeral Home Director.”
Journalism / Media
- Clare Malone, “Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post?” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/05/26/is-jeff-bezos-selling-out-the-washington-post (Journalist, Newspaper Editor, Media Executive)
- Gig, Chapter 7, “Media: Journalist.”
Law, Law Enforcement and Security
- Hechinger, S. and Kirkland, A. “A Day in the Life of a Brooklyn Public Defender.” https://www.teenvogue.com/story/scott-hechinger-public-defender-twitter
- Anderson, D. “The Problems with Public Defense are Big, but They’re Fixable.” https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2021/02/the-problems-with-public-defense-are-big-but-theyre-fixable
- Lustbader, S. The Feminist Law Professor Who Wants to Stop Arresting People for Domestic Violence. https://www.newyorker.com/news/persons-of-interest/the-feminist-law-professor-who-wants-to-stop-arresting-people-for-domestic-violence (Police Officer, Prosecutor, Judge)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 3, “Our own little city.” (Homeland Security Officer)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 14, “I’m here all night.” (Doorman)
- Dirty Work, chapter 1, “Dual Loyalties.” (Prison Mental Health Counselor)
- Dirty Work, chapter 2, “The Other Prisoners.” (Corrections Officer)
- Gig, Chapter 12, “Lawyers and the Law (Various cases)”
Government and Politics
- Kelefa Sanneh, “Ras Baraka: Reasonable Radical.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/07/ras-baraka-profile
- Gig, Chapter 13: “Government and Military (Various cases)”
Transportation
- Gonnerman, Jennifer. “A Transit Worker’s Survival Story.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/31/a-transit-workers-survival-story (Bus Driver)
- Gig, Chapter 4, “Transportation: Bus Driver.”
- Gig, Chapter 4, “Transportation: Train Engineer.”
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 2, “I’ll take my chances on the nightshift.” (Taxi Driver)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 12, “Everyone is the same down there.” (Train Conductor, MTA Social Worker)
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 15, “Night boat weekends.” (Ferry Deckhand)
- Molly Crabapple, “How the Taxi Workers Won.” https://www.thenation.com/article/society/taxi-driver-strike/
- Elias Schisgall (New York Focus), “‘I Don’t See No Future’: Hundreds of Taxi Drivers Left in Debt as Lenders Balk at Loan Deal.” https://nysfocus.com/2024/09/03/taxi-drivers-debt-lenders-mpr-plus
- Erum Salam, “New York City Taxi Drivers End Hunger Strike After Reaching Deal on Debt Relief.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/04/new-york-city-taxi-drivers-end-hunger-strike-debt-relief
- This American Life, “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors.” Act 1. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/818/stand-clear-of-the-closing-doors (Bus Driver)
Flight Attendant
- Jennifer Gonnerman, “Flight Attendants Fight Back.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/30/flight-attendants-fighting-back
- Gig, Chapter 4, “Transportation: Flight Attendant.”
Social Work / Mental Healthcare
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 12, “Everyone is the same down there.” (Train Conductor, MTA Social Worker)
- Dirty Work, chapter 1, “Dual Loyalties.” (Prison Mental Health Counselor)
Tech
- Gig, chapter 2, “Goods and Services: Computer Chip Layout Designer.”
- Anna Wiener, Uncanny Valley.
- Kyle Chayka, “Bluesky’s Quest to Build Non-Toxic Social Media.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/14/blueskys-quest-to-build-nontoxic-social-media
Business Management
- Nightshift NYC, chapter 1, “One Big Family.” (Restaurant manager)
- Gig, Chapter 1, “Workers and Managers (Various)”
- Gig, Chapter 5, “Food (Various).”
