Frithjof is someone you might have never met and might never meet. But you know him all the same. He certainly knows you (although he does not care who you are). It makes no difference to him if you read this book or not.

The 'job system' for organizing work has only existed for around 200 years - since the industrial revolution. Always problematic, it now approaches collapse, and what follows, either for good or ill, depends on decisions made and executed in current times. Many people are filled with dismay, and turn for succor to political opportunists. Prescient of the looming disaster, Frithjof Bergmann began to devise alternatives to the job system in the 1970s. He started with the fostering of dialogue, about ameliorating the impacts of layoffs in times of recession, among the workforce in the auto industry and community, in Flint, Michigan. What has evolved, over years, is his proposed alternative to the job system. New Work, New Culture recounts the development of his ideas, and describes one course which humanity might follow, that all might live better lives.

The Poetical gazette; the official organ of the Poetry society and a review of poetical affairs, nos. 4-7 issued as supplements to the Academy, v. 79, Oct. 15, Nov. 5, Dec. 3 and 31, 1910

With extraordinary elegance and philosophic power, Frithjof Bergmann presents a genuine rethinking of freedom. By changing the focus from outside to inside the person, Bergmann shows how freedom can be a reality in self-growth, parenting, education, and in shaping a society that stimulates rather than stunts the self.

This is "the story of Ida Elisabeth, who marries her teenage sweetheart. Early in their marriage, she realizes that her charming husband is incapable of supporting the family and she sews dresses to make ends meet. After the marriage falls apart, Ida Elisabeth moves with her children to a small town, where she attracts the attention of a man with the drive her husband lacked. As she contemplates marring again, her former husband, now gravely sick, re-enters her life"--Page 4 of cover.