How did barb ehrenreich get involved in this project?

“The idea that led to this book arose,” Ehrenreich begins by writing, “in comparatively sumptuous circumstances.” She then describes a $30 lunch at a French restaurant with Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper’s, who, when Ehrenreich casually mentions that someone ought to investigate the consequences of welfare reform by going out and trying the low-wage workplace “for themselves”, jumps on the idea and beckons Ehrenreich to take the dive.