Peter D. McClelland is emeritus professor of economics at Cornell University and the author and editor of numerous books, including The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next, The American Search for Economic Justice, and Crisis in the Making; The Political Economy of New York State since 1945. Peter Tobin is a Ph.D. candidate in engineering and applied science at Yale University.

Scratch at the surface of the myriad economic diagrams, and the picture that emerges is far from dry. . . . McClelland and Tobin argue, with an abundance of caution, that data such as these put the very concept of a vibrant American dream in jeopardy. . . . [This book] should make it onto the required reading lists of the country's economic and anti-poverty policy-makers.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Problems of DefinitionChapter 2: Standard of LivingChapter 3: Financial SecurityChapter 4: MobilityChapter 5: Education and MobilityChapter 6: The Future: Aggregate GrowthChapter 7: The Future: DistributionChapter 8: Fiscal ConstraintsConclusion