Sunsets

This engaging book bristles with fresh insights into the working lives of immigrant housecleaners and nannies living on the margins in [Los Angeles,] the nation's capital of conspicuous consumption. Hondagneu-Sotelo beautifully exposes domestic workers' yearnings for respect and dignity and makes a compelling case that this burgeoning occupation still lacks basic social recognition. - Ruth Milkman, author of Farewell to the Factory: Auto Workers in the Late Twentieth Century Hondagneu-Sotelo challenges the reader to rethink the organization of caring work, the roles of race and immigrant status in the structure of domestic work, the importance of regulations, and the need for legal and personal recognition of the rights and human dignity of each worker. This book is an important contribution to our understanding of work and family among immigrant Latina women and also among the families the employ them. - Bonnie Thornton Dill, author of Across the Boundaries of Race and Class Beautifully written, sensitive to all the nuances of the situation, and committed to the protection of our most vulnerable immigrants, Domestica has an important, poignant story to tell, one that will appeal to anyone interested in immigration and the way it is transforming America. - Roger Waldinger, author of Still the Promised City? Through brilliantly nuanced portraits of housekeepers and their employers, Hondagneu-Sotelo tells a neglected story of growing importance, spotlighting the relation of mistress to maid. Marx would recognize the scene. - Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of The Time Bind Domestica is a pathbreaking study. It opens our eyes to the hidden world of transnational care-work....Everyone who is concerned about care and equality should read it. - Lucie White, Professor, Harvard Law School