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

A young man sets out to prove the American Dream is alive and well in this memoir of homelessness, grit, and perseverance.

After reading Barbara Ehrenreich's influential book, Nickel and Dimed, Adam Shepard felt discouraged by its hopeless view of American opportunity. 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, th...