Maria enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class life growing up in the Triepcke home, along with her two brothers Wilhelm and Valdemar.

But Ms. Chast developed a following for her queasy commentary on middle-class American life.

Those photographs were the hallmark of middle-class American life, and his slogan was "Pictures make a house into a home."

She worked to build herself a stable, middle-class life, an independent life.

Four years ago, the Zecevic family led a happy, middle-class life in Sarajevo.

He has re-created the same sort of intensely middle-class life he had growing up.

They painted a bleak picture of working-class and middle-class life under the Bush administration.

So is our desire to make our way in middle-class American life.

Hughes lives his life as a close observer of middle-class American life, gleaning it for film ideas.

For others, Enron's collapse affected solidly middle-class lives in smaller ways.