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Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream

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What can you get with $25 and a dream? Adam Shepard graduated from college feeling disillusioned by the apathy around him and was then incensed after reading Barbara Ehrenreich's famous work Nickel and Dimed—a book that gave him a feeling of hopelessness about the working class in America. He set out to disprove Ehrenreich's theory—the notion that those who start at the bottom stay at the bottom—by making something out of nothing to achieve the American Dream. Shepard's plan was simple. With a sleeping bag, the clothes on his back, and $25 in cash, and restricted from using his contacts or college education, he headed out for Charleston, South Carolina, a randomly selected city with one objective: to work his way out of homelessness and into a life that would give him the opportunity for success. His goal was to have, after one year, $2,500, a working automobile, and a furnished apartment. Scratch Beginnings is the earnest and passionate account of Shepard's struggle to overcome the pressures placed on the homeless. His story will not only inspire readers but will also remind them that success can come to anyone who is willing to work hard—and that America is still one of the most hopeful countries in the world.

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Customer Reviews

Average Amazon User Rating: Average rating: 4.0 stars

5 stars Read this book after 'Nickel and Dimed' 2010-07-22

Reviewer: Joe

This is an excellent read and makes for a fantastic retort to 'Nickel and Dimed.'

3 stars ok... i suppose 2010-06-27

Reviewer: Austin Post

Adam Shepherd writes a great refutation to Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickle and Dimed. This book shows that you CAN make it in America and is overall an interesting story. Still, in the end the message is simplistic, that everybody just needs to "try harder" and so on and so forth. At the end he says that now he can go on to his life in California or New York in the white collar world. I think it is interesting what Adam Shepherd did but in the end I was looking for a little more substance.

5 stars Knocked Me on My Tush 2010-04-14

Reviewer: GDTRFB

I hadn't heard of Adam Shepard until recently. There's no doubt that he'll be writing interesting books for a long time. Shepard understands his environment and characters as much as anyone I've read in the last few years. It's rare that a book makes you laugh and think and wince, all at once. An important and highly readable book.

4 stars Innocent Abroad ( in Charlston, SC ) 2010-03-24

Reviewer: A Southern Reader

I bought this book after the vey unusual cover caught my eye. The story is about young Adam Shepard's
spending a year in a strange town after beginning with just the clothes on his back and $25. It is nothing if not interesting, especially at the start when he is spending nights at the local homeless shelter. I guess I have the usual stereotypes of shelter dwellers, and I found some of the author's tales and observations useful in dissolving my stereotypes.
The book is somewhat a 21st dentury Horatio Alger story, ie young man works hard, overcomes many obstacles, and achieves success. This would be an excellent book to give recent high school or college graduates. He definitely puts to rest the idea that one cannot get ahead by working hard. I enjoyed the book, but I lapsed into skimming the farther along I got in the book. Not great literature certainly, but the author says up front that he is just a normal guy telling his story. One more thing, any readers considering a carreer as a mover should definitely read the boook.

5 stars great reading 2010-03-22

Reviewer: Ted Villalon

SCRATCH BEGINNINGS is Adam Shepard's first book; it is my hope that it will not be his last.

This book is an ecellent first person story of a young man living in a homeless shelter and what it took for him to GET HIMSELF OUT of there. Bootstraps, Horatio Alger, whatever... Adam's book is a page turner. It ought to be read by every young person as well as by some of us older folks.