“The question is why one should be so inwardly preoccupied at all. Why not reach out to others in love and solidarity or peer into the natural world for some glimmer of understanding? Why retreat into anxious introspection when, as Emerson might have said, there is a vast world outside to explore? Why spend so much time working on oneself when there is so much real work to be done?”

American author and political activist

Barbara Ehrenreich was an American author and political activist. She was active in the 1980s and early 1990s as a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She was widely read as a columnist and essayist, and her work was recognized with awards. She also wrote 21 books, building a body of work that reflected her political commitments and public voice.