The Life and Death of the American Worker

In the spirit of investigative journalism by Patrick Radden Keefe, Matthew Desmond and Beth Macy, an explosive expose of the toxic labor practices at the largest meatpacking company in America, Tyson Foods. By shining a light on the lives of the immigrant laborers from marginalized communities who prepare our food, Alice Driver blows the doors open on Tyson Foods, the largest meat-processing plant in the US. Tyson Foods is based in Arkansas and relies overwhelmingly on immigrants and refugees to do the difficult and dangerous daily labor of processing chicken. During the pandemic, workers from Mexico, Central America, the Marshallese Islands, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Myanmar—many of whom only speak their native language—faced working conditions at the plant that would kill them in greater numbers than any other place in the US except prisons. Laying bare a system of immigration law and labor exploitation that to this day values infinite growth at the expense of human beings, Driver’s book will forever change the conversation on labor conditions and the meaning of work, especially among “essential workers” who were applauded during the pandemic and then quickly forgotten by the mainstream media. All this packed into a memorable David and Goliath story of workers banding together to fight one powerful corporation, against all odds.