CLASS IN AMERICA: My Life Pouring Concrete. “This is how some men spend the majority of their lives. I say ‘men’ because, in my chosen subspecialty of concrete (whose ranks include those formally designated in the United States under the category of ‘cement masons, concrete finishers, and terrazzo workers’), the work force is 98.9 percent male.”

Plus: “In Orwell’s day, the privileged set had to get up close and personal to develop their disdain for the working class. These days, thanks to Twitter, they can do it without getting out of bed.”