Alissa Quart

{{Short description|American nonfiction writer, critic, journalist, and poet (born 1972)}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Alissa Quart | image = Alissa Quart 2018.jpg | imagesize = | caption =Quart at the 2018 Texas Book Festival | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1972}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | occupation = {{flatlist| * Journalist * author * poet }} | period = 2002–present | notableworks = ''Hothouse Kids''<br />''Branded''<br />''Republic of Outsiders''<br />''Squeezed'' | education = BA, Brown University<br />MS, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism | spouse = Peter Maass | children = 1 | awards = Nieman Fellowship, 2010 | website = {{URL|http://www.alissaquart.com/}} }} '''Alissa Quart''' (born 1972) is an American nonfiction writer, critic, journalist, and poet. Her nonfiction books include ''Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels'' (2013), ''Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child'' (2007), ''Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers'' (2003), ''Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America'' (2018), and ''Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream'' (2023); her two poetry collections are ''Monetized'' (2015) and ''Thoughts and Prayers'' (2019).

Quart's multimedia story with Maisie Crow, "The Last Clinic" was nominated for a National Magazine Award and a Documentary Emmy in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://emmyonline.org/news_35th_nominations|title=Nominees for the 35th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards Announced by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|publisher=National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|access-date=2014-10-02|archive-date=2019-08-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802131105/http://emmyonline.org/news_35th_nominations|url-status=dead}}</ref> She was Executive Producer of the film "Jackson" that won an Emmy for Best Documentary, Social Issue. Quart is Executive Director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, founded by Barbara Ehrenreich.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://economichardship.org/about-1 |title=About |website=Economic Hardship Reporting Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921223908/http://economichardship.org/about-1 |archive-date=21 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Quart's articles and reviews have appeared in ''The New York Times, The Guardian'', ''The Atlantic'', and other publications. In a 2005 film review she coined the term ''hyperlink cinema''. She has been a guest commentator on CNN, CBC, and C-SPAN, and appeared on TV shows such as ''Nightline'', ''20/20'', and ''Today''.

Quart has taught at Brown University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/JOUR/J6040-20133-052/|title=Fall 2013 Journalism J6040 section 052 MASTERS PROJECT I|publisher=Columbia University Directory of Classes|accessdate=Dec 11, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214114603/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/subj/JOUR/J6040-20133-052/|archive-date=2013-12-14|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is a 2010 Nieman Fellowship recipient.

==Early life and education== Born to two college professors, Quart grew up in lower Manhattan, attending Stuyvesant High School.<ref name=Nyr/> Quart says that she grew up as a brilliant prodigy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burke |first=Wendy |date=November 2006 |title=Growing Geniuses: Review of Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child |url=https://www.world-gifted.org/World-Gifted-Newsletter/wg-25(2).pdf |journal=World Council for Gifted and Talented Childre |volume=25 |pages=2}}</ref> She received a BA in English Literature with Honors in Creative Writing from Brown University in 1994 then did graduate work in English Literature for a year at CUNY Graduate Center before completing a Master of Science at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 1997.<ref name=NYT2/>

== Career == Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that funds independent reporters covering social inequality and economic justice. The organization was founded by Barbara Ehrenreich in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quart |first=Alissa |title=Alissa Quart - Economic Hardship Reporting Project |url=https://economichardship.org/author/alissaquart/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Books (Nonfiction)==

===''Branded'' (2003) === In 2003, Quart published ''Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers''<ref name=NYT2>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/26/business/book-value-how-consumer-culture-sets-up-its-young-ducks.html|title=BOOK VALUE; How Consumer Culture Sets Up Its Young Ducks|last=Holstein|first=William H.|newspaper=The New York Times|date=Jan 26, 2003}}</ref> which illustrates and criticizes the way that corporations chase teenagers and pre-teens. From the annual Advertising & Promotion to Kids Conference<ref name=PW1>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7382-0664-6|title=BRANDED: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers|magazine=Publishers Weekly|date=Nov 25, 2002}}</ref><ref name=Nation1/> to affiliate programs by catalog retailers such as Delia's that have teenagers advise their friends on what is desirable to Disney and McDonald's holding focus groups in high schools, Quart shows how companies have become increasingly sophisticated in hooking youngsters into a world of extreme consumerism that is ultimately harmful to them socially and developmentally. She points out that companies trap these impressionable individuals "into a cycle of labor and shopping" with brands "aim[ing] to register so strongly in kids' minds that the appeal will remain for life".<ref name=NYT2/>

The book received generally favorable reviews. ''Publishers Weekly'' gave it a starred review, calling it a "substantive follow-up to Naomi Klein's ''No Logo''".<ref name=PW1/> It received consistent praise for its analysis from other sources such as ''The New York Times'', ''The Nation'', and the book industry monthly ''Bookpage.''<ref name=NYT2/><ref name=Nation1>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/new-product-placement|title=The New Product Placement|last=Segall|first=Rebecca|magazine=The Nation|date=Feb 6, 2003}}</ref><ref name=Bkpg>{{cite news|url=http://bookpage.com/review/branded/tracking-teens-and-trends|last=Brady|first=Martin|title=Tracking teens and trends|publisher=Bookpage|date=March 2003|access-date=2013-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907105708/http://bookpage.com/review/branded/tracking-teens-and-trends|archive-date=2013-09-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''Branded'' has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Finnish.

===''Hothouse Kids'' (2006)=== She published ''Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child,''<ref name=At5>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/07/extreme-parenting/304982/5/|title=Extreme Parenting: Does the Baby Genius Edutainment Complex enrich your child's mind—or stifle it?|magazine=The Atlantic|last=Quart|date=July–August 2006}}</ref> a book that examines the cultures of extreme child-rearing that can be found across the U.S. that puts heavy emphasis on early achievement. Quart turns a skeptical eye on the growing genius-building business that includes the Baby Einstein videos, the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and IQ tests. In a book that ''Publishers Weekly'' called "first class literary journalism,"<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59420-095-3|title=Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child|magazine=Publishers Weekly|date=May 22, 2006}}</ref> she paints a somber picture of what the life of a child prodigy really looks like.

''Hothouse Kids'' has been published in South Korea and the UK.

===''Republic of Outsiders'' (2013)=== ''Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels'' (2013),<ref name=NYT1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/books/review/republic-of-outsiders-by-alissa-quart.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&|title=Gate Crashers 'Republic of Outsiders,' by Alissa Quart|last=Newitz|first=Annalee|newspaper=The New York Times|date= Nov 8, 2013}}</ref> describes the role of cultural outsiders who are importantly changing elements of mainstream US culture via new technologies and entrepreneurialism. In a book that ''Publishers Weekly'' called "thoroughly researched and admirably evenhanded,"<ref name=PW>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59558-875-3|title=Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers, and Rebels|magazine=Publishers Weekly|date=May 6, 2013}}</ref> Quart reports on self-advocacy among people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses that are usually treated with drugs. Instead of allowing doctors to define them, these people espouse “mad pride” and create online communities where peer counseling replaces institutionalization. Quart's point is that all are examples of "counterpublics" who crucially re-form what is considered acceptable, allowing further diversity of options. She ends with a powerful example of Occupy Bank Working Group, or an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street headed by an ex-banker whose goals include to make a nonpredatory credit card for the needy.<ref name=NYT1/><ref name=PW/>

In addition to the starred review from ''Publishers Weekly,''<ref name=PW/> the book was reviewed in the ''Times'' which Quart's skill in reporting on "the experiences of ordinary people, following their realistically messy lives for year, offering us vivid portraits that are profoundly humane".<ref name=NYT1/> The book, which was included in the "brilliant" "high brow" quadrant of ''New York'' magazine's Approval Matrix,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://nymag.com/arts/all/approvalmatrix/approval-matrix-2013-8-19/|title=The Approval Matrix: Week of August 19, 2013.|date=August 11, 2013|magazine=New York Magazine}}</ref> was excerpted in ''O'' magazine's August 2013 issue.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.oprah.com/health/Mad-Pride-Alternative-Treatments-for-Bipolar-Disorder/1|last=Quart|title=A Saner Approach? New Ways of Treating Mental Illness As diagnoses of bipolar disorder soar, a grassroots movement is offering alternatives|publisher=O|date=August 2013}}</ref>

===''Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America'' (2018)===

Published in June 2018, ''Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America'', "brings together original research and reporting to investigate how the high costs of American parenthood have bankrupted the middle class, and examines solutions that might help families across the country".<ref>[http://www.alissaquart.com/books Alissa Quart personal website.]</ref><ref>Williams, M.E. [https://www.salon.com/2018/06/27/middle-class-shame-is-real-squeezed-author-alissa-quart-on-why-the-american-dream-is-crumbling/ ''Middle class shame is real: “Squeezed” author Alissa Quart on why the American dream is crumbling''] Salon, June 27, 2018.</ref><ref>[https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780062412256 Review of ''Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America'' by Alissa Quart.] Publishers' Weekly.</ref> It was reviewed favorably twice by ''The New York Times,'' was featured by Terry Gross's ''Fresh Air,'' and was chosen as one of C-SPAN's books of the year.

===''Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream'' (2023)===

Alissa's latest nonfiction book is ''Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream,'' "an unsparing... yet ultimately hopeful look at how we can shed the American obsession with self-reliance that has made us less healthy, less secure, and less fulfilled."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/bootstrapped-alissa-quart?variant=40517189599266 | title=Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream | website=HarperCollins Publishers }}</ref> Literary Hub called ''Bootstrapped'' one of the "most anticipated books of 2023."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://lithub.com/lit-hubs-most-anticipated-books-of-2023/3/|title=Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2023|publisher=Literary Hub|date=January 12, 2023}}</ref> A starred review by Publishers Weekly said, "Quart’s vision of an America where no one needs to put on 'codified theatrical performances via social media' to get the help they need is a breath of fresh air. This eloquent and incisive call to action inspires.”<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780063028005/|title=Review of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream|publisher=Publishers Weekly|date=February 2023}}</ref> ''Bootstrapped'' has been reviewed favorably by The Atlantic,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nietfeld |first=Emi |date=2023-03-13 |title=America's Most Insidious Myth |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/03/alissa-quart-bootstrapped-book-review/673354/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref> Kirkus Reviews,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alissa-quart/bootstrapped/?__hstc=188360183.94ddc56625e156b8cc939cfcb6ddfbfc.1715472000197.1715472000198.1715472000199.1&__hssc=188360183.1.1715472000200&__hsfp=2036610538 |title=BOOTSTRAPPED {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref> and Jacobin,<ref>{{Cite web |title=There's No Such Thing as a "Self-Made Man" |url=https://jacobin.com/2023/02/self-made-independence-community-interdependence-bootstrapped |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}</ref> with excerpts featured in The New York Times,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Quart |first=Alissa |date=2023-03-09 |title=Opinion {{!}} Can We Put an End to America's Most Dangerous Myth? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/opinion/art-of-dependence.html |access-date=2024-05-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> TIME,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2023-03-10 |title=Bootstrapping Has Always Been A Myth. The New American Dream Proves It |url=https://time.com/6261476/bootstrapping-myth-new-american-dream/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> and The Washington Post.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-03-16 |title=Opinion {{!}} How ditching America's 'bootstraps' myth can open up politics |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/14/american-bootstraps-myth-politics/ |access-date=2024-05-18 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

''Kirkus Reviews'' named ''Bootstrapped'' one of the best non-fiction books of 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liebetrau |first=Eric |date=2023-11-19 |title=Best of 2023: Our Favorite Nonfiction |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/best-of-2023-our-favorite-nonfiction/ |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

==Magazine, news and multimedia work==

She coined the term ''hyperlink cinema'' in 2005 while reviewing the film ''Happy Endings'' for ''Film Comment''. In her review, she underscored director Don Roos's use of connecting scenes through happenstance, and linking text and captions under or next to a split-screen image.<ref name=networked>Quart, Alissa (August 1, 2005). "Networked: Don Roos and Happy Endings", ''Film Comment''.</ref> Among the other works she cited as illustrating this technique were the films ''The Opposite of Sex'', ''Magnolia'', ''Time Code'', and Paul Haggis's ''Crash'', and the TV series ''24''.<ref name=networked/> ''Hyperlink cinema'' was further popularized by Roger Ebert in his review of ''Syriana'' the same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/syriana-2005 |title=Syriana |last=Ebert |first=Roger |publisher=RogerEbert.com |date=December 8, 2005}}</ref>

Quart's articles for ''The New York Times Magazine'' have included a story about a trans man who was a freshman at Barnard women's college,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16students-t.html |url-access=limited |last=Quart |first=Alissa |title=When Girls Will Be Boys |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |date=March 16, 2008}}</ref> and a feature on the indie music scene in Toronto.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/26toronto.html?pagewanted=all |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |date=February 26, 2006 |title=Guided by (Many, Many) Voices |last=Quart |first=Alissa}}</ref>

She has been a newspaper guest columnist, for example, her 2019 ''New York Times'' editorial, "The Con of the Side Hustle", criticized the rising popularity of the "side hustle" jargon as being language that "tries to make the dreary carousel of contemporary life sound more fun":{{blockquote|Yet this sales pitch for the "side hustle" takes what we once called, more drably, another job and gives it a gloss, with a tiny shot of Superfly, disguising unstable working hours and a lack of bargaining power as liberation.<ref>{{cite news |last=Quart |first=Alissa |title=The Con of the Side Hustle |date=April 6, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/opinion/sunday/tax-day-side-hustle.html}}</ref>}}

Quart commissioned and helped originate Maisie Crow's 50-minute documentary about the Jackson Women's Health Organization, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, writing its National Magazine Award-nominated multimedia story for the ''Atavist''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magazine.org/about-asme/pressroom/asme-press-releases/asme/national-magazine-awards-2014-finalists-announced|title=National Magazine Awards 2014 Finalists Announced|date=March 27, 2014|publisher=American Society of Magazine Publishers website|access-date=March 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330020508/http://www.magazine.org/about-asme/pressroom/asme-press-releases/asme/national-magazine-awards-2014-finalists-announced|archive-date=March 30, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Poetry== Quart was a poet before she became a journalist.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.writermag.com/2013/11/01/poet-journalist-alissa-quart/|title=Full quart press|last=Andresen|first=Kristin|publisher=The Writer|date=November 1, 2013}}</ref> Her poetry has been published by the ''London Review of Books'',<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n02/alissa-quart/two-poems|title=Two Poems|last=Quart|first=Alissa|magazine=London Review of Books|date=Jan 24, 2013|accessdate=Dec 17, 2013}}</ref> the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theoffingmag.com/poetry/two-poems-from-monetized/|title=Two Poems from Monetized - The Offing|date=2 April 2015|publisher=|accessdate=17 April 2018}}</ref> and news and culture website the Awl, among other places:<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theawl.com/2012/07/a-poem-by-alissa-quart|title=A Poem By Alissa Quart|date=July 12, 2012|publisher=The Awl|access-date=December 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217221241/http://www.theawl.com/2012/07/a-poem-by-alissa-quart|archive-date=December 17, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theawl.com/2013/08/a-poem-by-alissa-quart-3|title=A Poem By Alissa Quart|date=August 16, 2013|publisher=The Awl|access-date=December 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224104/http://www.theawl.com/2013/08/a-poem-by-alissa-quart-3|archive-date=December 17, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 2002, she came out with a chapbook, ''Solarized,'' a lyrically and sonically complex work that shares the thematic preoccupations of her journalism: commercialism, gender identity and being a young woman, gentrification, 1970s and indie film, advertising, adolescence, and bad tourism.<ref name=storyfront>Quart and Schaff, Sara, interview, ''Day One,'' issue 10, Seattle: StoryFront, 2014</ref> Of her writing process, she said in 2014: {{blockquote|"Most of my poems are from experiences at the edges of, say, a reporting trip: the sensory or internal experiences, the physical American landscape I perceive rather than the one that makes it into a piece or a nonfiction book, or the emotional response to a work of art or film I've seen in the course of writing a review or an essay.... I see the 'arguments' in my poetry as being surplus: what is left over or impossible to express or too passionate or even too obvious or familiar in journalistic terms."<ref name=storyfront/>}}

===''Monetized'' (2015)=== ''Monetized'' is her collection of poetry that reflects on consumer identities, Internet culture, gentrification, and "belatedness". Some of the poetry is autobiographical, two are responses to poems by Wallace Stevens. The book was well received by critics, and included in ''The New York Observer'''s "Innovation" section<ref>{{cite news|url=http://observer.com/2015/04/new-poetry-collection-depicts-the-decline-of-legacy-media/|last=Bloomgarden-Smoke|first=Kara|title=New Poetry Collection Depicts the Decline of Legacy Media|date=April 21, 2015|publisher=NY Observer}}</ref> and covered by ''The New Yorker'', with Joshua Rothman describing it as "dense, playful, aphoristic."<ref name=Nyr>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/alissa-quart-money-poet|title=The Money Poet|first=Joshua|last=Rothman|magazine=The New Yorker |date=8 April 2015|publisher=|accessdate=17 April 2018|via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref> The review in ''Publishers Weekly'' praised Quart for "her keen sociological eye" and "remarkably apt cultural critiques".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-881163-56-5|title=Monetized: Alissa Quart, Author|magazine=Publishers Weekly}}</ref> Alternet's Lynn Stuart Parramore wrote, "Quart’s laser-sharp phrases...have a way of sticking around in your head long after you turn the final page.”<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.alternet.org/books/feel-your-life-has-become-monetized-youre-not-alone|title=Books: Feel Like Your Life Has Become Monetized? You're Not Alone|last=Parramore|first=Lynn Stuart|work=Alternet|date=February 24, 2015}}</ref>

==Awards== * Nieman Fellowship, 2010<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/newsitem.aspx?id=100116|title=News: Nieman Foundation Announces 2009-2010 Nieman Fellows|publisher=www.nieman.harvard.edu|date=May 19, 2009|access-date=2013-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224306/http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/newsitem.aspx?id=100116|archive-date=2013-12-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grant, 2013

==Personal life== She is married to Peter Maass, a journalist, and they live in New York City.

==Published works==

===Poetry=== * ''Solarized'' (2002, chapbook) * ''Monetized'' (2015)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orgs.miamioh.edu/mupress/details/quart_monetized.html|title=Catalogue Monetized|website=Miami University Press}}</ref> * ''Thoughts and Prayers'' (2019)

===Nonfiction=== * ''Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers'' (2003) * ''Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child'' (2007) * ''Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels'' (2013) * ''Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America'' (2018) * ''Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream'' (2023)

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==  * {{official website|http://www.alissaquart.com}} * {{C-SPAN|1004827}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quart, Alissa}} Category:Living people Category:Brown University alumni Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Category:American feminist writers Category:21st-century American women journalists Category:21st-century American journalists Category:Jewish American journalists Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers Category:Jewish American poets Category:Jewish American women writers Category:Writers from Manhattan Category:The Nation people Category:1972 births Category:20th-century American poets Category:21st-century American poets Category:Journalists from New York City Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:21st-century American Jews Category:American electronic literature writers Category:20th-century American women poets Category:21st-century American women poets