This book gets mixed reviews, but the message may resonate ... From Publishers Weekly: Twenty-something journalist Daniel Brook sees the best minds of his generation scrivening away as corporate lawyers and accountants, and he's furious about it. His fresh and striking pay-gap polemic laments the plight of "educated, idealistic young people" who must choose whether "to be a sellout or a saint" — that is, whether to take a lucrative corporate job or to eke out a pauper's existence in creative or nonprofit work. "The new economic realities," Brook writes, "are shaping people's lives, closing off certain career and lifestyle options. They are reducing freedom." Many readers will wince in recognition of their work/life compromises. "Corporate America is riddled with secret dissenters," Brook notes; he does a real service asking why it must be this way.
From Booklist: Selling out in order to make big bucks used to be viewed with contempt, but, Brook argues, in today's aggressive society, it has become ever more acceptable, even mundane. For many people the choice comes down to sticking to one's ideological guns or living a comfortable life, but for "boomerang kids" -- college grads so far in debt that they have to move back in with their folks -- selling out is the only way to escape childhood. An exploration not only of the economics of compromise but also of the frustration that comes in the wake of putting material concerns ahead of personal beliefs.
The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America | 
