How have their lives changed? Not for the better. The new edition includes an excellent afterword by Ehrenreich (reprinted in part at TomDispatch), in which she takes stock of the past ten years and revisits some of the workers she met while reporting her book. In 2006, the reverse design went back to showing Monticello.Picador is marking the tenth anniversary of Barbara Ehrenreich’s modern classic “ Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” in which she chronicled her attempts to make a life on minimum wage in three states, with a special anniversary edition. The new nickels celebrated the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expedition, which happened during Jefferson’s presidency. In 20, the Westward Journey Nickel Series brought four new reverse designs. Monticello, Jefferson’s home, was on the reverse of the nickel from 1938 to 2003. This time, Jefferson faced forward for the first time instead of the usual right-facing portrait. The Mint changed his portrait in 2005 during the Westward Journey Nickel Series. In 1938, President Thomas Jefferson appeared on the obverse of the nickel. The bison was the second animal, after the eagle, to appear on a U.S.

From 1913 to 1938, the Mint made the “Buffalo” nickel which showed an American bison on the reverse. The rest is copper.Ī woman symbolizing liberty was used in different poses on the five-cent coin until 1913. coin that is called by its metal content – even though the metal in a nickel is only 25 percent nickel. The new nickel was larger than the silver half dime and easier to handle.įun Fact! The nickel is the only U.S. So both kinds of five-cent coin were circulating at the same time. The five-cent coin we call the nickel was created in 1866…but the Mint kept making the silver half dime until 1873. The first five-cent coin in 1794 was called a half dime. In the Mint’s early days, all coins had to be made of either gold, silver, or copper. The first five-cent coins were made of silver, not nickel. We know the five-cent coin as a nickel, but it wasn’t always so. It has been on the nickel since 1938, except for a brief period in 20. The building on the reverse (tails) is called “Monticello.” Monticello was Jefferson’s home in Virginia, which he designed himself. He’s been on the nickel since 1938, although the current portrait dates to 2006.

The person on the obverse (heads) of the nickel is Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president. The nickel is the United States’ five-cent coin.

Nickel & dimed by barbara ehrenreich