Graceful Simplicity, Jerome M. Segal
Graceful Simplicity, Jerome M. Segal
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Graceful Simplicity
The Foundations of Bread and Roses Socialism

Author: Jerome M. Segal

Narrator: Kevin Kemp

Unabridged: 10 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/09/2022


Synopsis

Graceful Simplicity: The Foundations of Bread and Roses Socialism is a new audiobook prepared with an eye on the 2024 Presidential elections. The author, Jerome Segal, is challenging Joe Biden for the nomination of the Democratic Party.

The audiobook is primarily the first audio of Dr. Segal’s seminal 1999 book, Graceful Simplicity: The Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living. The original book made two main contributions to the literature on simple living. First, it argued that beauty and creative expression should be counted among our basic needs, and their fulfillment part of what simple living aspires to. Secondly, it argued that simple living should be thought of as more than a life-style choice. Rather, it should animate a new politics, one which places making the option of simple living relevant to people at all parts of the income spectrum, the central goal of socio-economic policy. Concretely, this means making it possible for people on a minimum wage to meet their core needs (including beauty) on 4 or even 3 days of Job System work per week.

Starting when he first ran for public office in 2018, Dr. Segal went from writing about the need for a politics of simplicity to actually pursuing one. Over time he came to use the term “Bread and Roses socialism” to characterize his political program, and came to call himself, a bread and roses socialist. The new audiobook opens with a 25 page preface that explains the transition from “graceful simplicity” to “bread and roses socialism” as well as the conceptual linkage between the two concepts.

Graceful Simplicity (1999) was a Book of the Month Club selection, and was translated into Danish and Chinese.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Katherine on January 04, 2023

Mr. Segal packs quite the punch in this dense treatise packing the whole with examples from and connections between history, philosophy, economics, and sociology. While most of the arguments are of a humanist bent, not all proposals seem realistically achievable without major buy-in from society at......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on November 03, 2024

Some good quotable thoughts in this book. I think some of his assertions are lacking substance (e.g. people's income rise rate not taking into account cost of living rise), but in general I think he has a lot of good to say.......more

Goodreads review by Dave on November 16, 2015

Not an easy book to finish. Some of the chapters were a bit laborious-however -given the degree of financial inequality,as well as the increased difficulty in achieving the "American Dream"-this book is a great inquiry into what is truly important.......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on July 08, 2013

Enjoyed the first and third section, but the middle - comparisons to Roman times - weren't up my alley. Came away thinking about how I can simplify today to improve quality of life now and into the future.......more