More than a million American families now file for federal bankruptcy annually, and many more are perilously close to financial disaster. In this important analysis of hard-pressed families, recently featured in articles in Newsweek, Forbes, Chronicle of Higher Education, and the New York Times, the authors discover that financial stability for many middle-class Americans is all too fragile. The authors consider the changing cultural and economic factors that threaten financial security and what they imply for the future vitality of the middle class.Author Biography: Teresa A. Sullivan is Vice President and Graduate Dean and professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. Elizabeth Warren is Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Jay Lawrence Westbrook is Benno C. Schmidt Chair of Business Law at the University of Texas School of Law.