Money Changes Everything: Twenty-Two Writers Tackle the Last Taboo with Tales of Sudden Windfalls, Staggering Debts, and Other Surprising Turns of Fortune

By Elissa SchappellJenny OffillMeera Nair, et al.

Book Overview

The editors of The Friend Who Got Away are back with a new anthology that will do for money what they did for women's friendships. Ours is a culture of confession, yet money remains a distinctly taboo subject for most Americans. In this riveting anthology, a host of celebrated writers explore the complicated role money has played in their lives, whether they're hiding from creditors or hiding a trust fund. This collection will touch a nerve with anyone who's ever been afraid to reveal their bank balance. In these wide-ranging personal essays, Daniel Handler, Walter Kirn, Jill McCorkle, Meera Nair, Henry Alford, Susan Choi, and other acclaimed authors write with startling candor about how money has strengthened or undermined their closest relationships. Isabel Rose talks about the trials and tribulations of dating as an heiress. Tony Serra explains what led him to take a forty-year vow of poverty. September 11 widow Marian Fontana illuminates the heartbreak and moral complexities of victim compensation. Jonathan Dee reveals the debt that nearly did him in. And in paired essays, Fred Leebron and his wife Katherine Rhett discuss the way fights over money have shaken their marriage to the core again and again. We talk openly about our romantic disasters and family dramas, our problems at work and our battles with addiction. But when it comes to what is or is not in our wallets, we remain determinedly mum. Until now, that is. Money Changes Everything is the first anthology of its kind--an unflinching and on-the-record collection of essays filled with entertaining and enlightening insights into why we spend, save, and steal. The pieces in Money Changes Everything range from the comic to the harrowing, yet they all reveal the complex, emotionally charged role money plays in our lives by shattering the wall of silence that has long surrounded this topic.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767922832
• ISBN13: 9780767922838
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Money, money, and more

I liked the book because it was an easy read for a practical book. It was a joy to read about the money issues we all go through. At the very least, it proves we all have alot of maturing about finances to do!

Insightful perspectives

I really liked this book. It's amazing how everyone views money differently! The essays kept my interest and I am recommending the book to others.

This one will have you thinking about how money has affected YOUR life and is a FUN read!

FIrst off, this is NOT a how-to book on personal finance. If you want that, go find one of the tons of books on the subject. But this book could help you change your outlook on money and think about how your own life has been affected by it. Each essay in this book is a personal confession or revelation about how money or money problems (or obtaining a sudden windfall) greatly changed someone's life. Let's face it- Discusing...

Money Does Change Everything

We get into more trouble when we don't communicate well with others. Money has always been such a taboo. It would probably solve so many problems if people could talk more openly about this subject. Money has too much power over us. Wouldn't be nice if we could value people more than money?