--- product_id: 8812900 title: "Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams" brand: "alfred lubrano" price: "Rp519609" currency: IDR in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.id/products/8812900-limbo-blue-collar-roots-white-collar-dreams store_origin: ID region: Indonesia --- # Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams **Brand:** alfred lubrano **Price:** Rp519609 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by alfred lubrano - **How much does it cost?** Rp519609 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.id](https://www.desertcart.id/products/8812900-limbo-blue-collar-roots-white-collar-dreams) ## Best For - alfred lubrano enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted alfred lubrano brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams ## Images ![Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61zZUawNW6L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good read *by J***N on Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2023* The writing is pretty straightforward (read not the most riveting) but really interesting points and discussion on a topic that doesn’t get enough attention. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ True Blue *by T***I on Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2011* I read a lot, but admittedly rarely give books like this a second look. "Limbo" was recommended to me by a friend who knew my background and urged me to pick it up. I did so almost as a courtesy. I wasn't expecting the sobering "look-in-the-mirror" experience it delivered.I'm nearing 40-years-old and have spent most of my career in executive positions at leading technology firms in Silicon Valley, often surrounded by the sons and daughters of the American aristocracy, those who boast the type of academic degrees and the amazing life experiences that most can only dream about, who seem to glide through life on a silk ribbon of confidence and entitlement, hopscotching from one gilded achievement to the next as effortlessly as a chimpanzee swinging from tree-to-tree. My world couldn't be more alien. I was raised in a mid-sized, mainly working class New England town, the son of a used car salesman and factory worker. Our annual summer vacations were a predictable 90 minute drive to a campground in Rhode Island. I was a teenager before I experienced air travel or read a full length book.For years, in retrospect, I've struggled with a certain uneasy feeling, an unshakeable sense of "otherness" in my personal and professional life. No matter how many times my success and worthiness has been validated, either by admission to elite academic institutions or selection to prestigious organizations or promotion to corporate positions, there remains a distinct pall of fraudulence, as though my life and achievements are a lie and the authorities will soon hunt me down, just like Frank Abagnele, the con-man character in the DiCaprio-Hanks film "Catch Me If You Can.""Limbo" is a book about me, or those like me. If you haven't personally traversed the working class to middle class divide (or are married to someone who has) this book isn't likely for you. However, for those who find themselves in a highly educated, professional setting after a childhood in a rough urban neighborhood or middle-of-nowhere farm or some hardscrabble ethnic town you need to read this book. It is, or can be, a journey of self discovery, although I'm sure it will speak to everyone differently.Here are a few examples how it spoke to me.I married a daughter of the middle class; we met in graduate school at Johns Hopkins. Her father went to West Point and her grandfather (!) had a masters degree in chemical engineering. My father was a grunt during Vietnam and my grandfather was semi-literate. I marveled at the genteel manner in which her parents dealt with one another. In my house and in my neighborhood it was rare for a week to go by without a blood curdling, expletive-laced exchange between married couples, my parents in particular. After we were married, I informed my mother that my in-laws never "fight" and that my wife said that she never once heard her parents raise their voices with one another. My mother's reaction was one of typical working class incredulity: "Well, that's just not normal!" It took time -- and reading "Limbo" -- for me to realize that it was all part of being a Straddler, that lonely "no man's land" that Alfred Lubrano claims all class crossers are inevitably marooned.This book also helped me identify how my working class roots influence my perspective and style to this day. For instance, I always physically size up any man in a business setting, calculating my likely ability to prevail in a street fight. I had always assumed that all men did this, the result of some deep-seated, involuntary, primordial reaction of the amygdala. Evidently, it's only manifest in guys from neighborhoods where pugilistic prowess once mattered. Also, I have zero tolerance in the workplace for what I perceive of as niceties and candy-coating. I like to think that I'm a candid, sincere, honest executive who "tells it like it is." However, I've learned from 360 performance appraisals (and "Limbo" has further explained) that what I consider an asset and virtue, my middle-class reared colleagues see as too direct and combative, often threatening.Finally, although I didn't grow up in anything approaching material poverty, "Limbo" demonstrated how lucky I am to have landed (after years of hard work) in my professional position. Unlike Lubrano, I was never a good student before age 20. My mother never took me to museums and fostered an interest in learning. My father never told me "stay in school so you don't end up like me." My high school guidance counselor told my mother that I wasn't "college material" and that verdict was quietly accepted. For me, this insight has been inspiring and motivating.That leads me to a final, perhaps more controversial, point. For all of my relative "success" I'm not at all convinced that my life -- the life of a highly educated, well compensated, Silicon Valley executive -- is any better or happier than my cousins who remained "true blue" back in New England, who make a living cutting hair, checking-out shoppers and putting out fires, but who also enjoy a tight family circle, lots of close friends and (from the Facebook looks of things) a non-stop weekend party lifestyle, living life to the fullest, with no inhibitions or regrets. I know that I can't go back, after all that I've learned and been through. But is an evening at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City really "better" than a night out drinking in Boston and cheering for the Bruins? I'm not so sure.This is an important book for those who need it. Lubrano writes with clarity and wit and can cleverly turn a phrase. However, "Limbo" can also get repetitive and, at times, a little too "woe-is-me" -- but that just might be my working class intolerance for self-pity coming through... ### ⭐⭐⭐ Outdated *by B***W on Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2022* This book is more of a history book than something that's relatable to anyone that came after baby boomers. Women were strongly discouraged from any kind of college which has completely reversed as women strongly outnumber men in education for a couple decades now. White doctors refused to treat little black girls. I suppose blue collar manual labor was not considered a career then but still paid enough to take care of a family. Today being a plumber or welder could be considered a career path. I guess I was expecting more of a poor existence to top 10%. Actual rags to riches.The author's style is easy to read though. If he wrote other books I wouldn't be dissuaded from reading them. I was bored with this book because I could not relate to a large enough chunk of it. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.id/products/8812900-limbo-blue-collar-roots-white-collar-dreams](https://www.desertcart.id/products/8812900-limbo-blue-collar-roots-white-collar-dreams) --- *Product available on Desertcart Indonesia* *Store origin: ID* *Last updated: 2026-05-14*