Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Bei- Sarah Smarsh, 1501133098, hardcover

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Item specifics

Condition
Good: A book that has been read, but is in good condition. Minimal damage to the book cover eg. ...
ISBN
9781501133091
Category

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Scribner
ISBN-10
1501133098
ISBN-13
9781501133091
eBay Product ID (ePID)
242951753

Product Key Features

Book Title
Heartland : a Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
Number of Pages
304 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Women, Children's Studies, Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Sociology / General, Personal Memoirs, Poverty & Homelessness, General, Agriculture / General, Sociology / Rural
Publication Year
2018
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Technology & Engineering, Social Science, Biography & Autobiography
Author
Sarah Smarsh
Format
Hardcover

Dimensions

Item Height
1.1 in
Item Weight
14 Oz
Item Length
8.4 in
Item Width
5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2017-301189
Dewey Edition
23
Reviews
"You might think that a book about growing up on a poor Kansas farm would qualify as 'sociology,' and Heartland certainly does.... But this book is so much more than even the best sociology. It is poetry--of the wind and snow, the two-lane roads running through the wheat, the summer nights when work-drained families drink and dance under the prairie sky." --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed "Sarah Smarsh--tough-minded and rough-hewn--draws us into the real lives of her family, barely making it out there on the American plains. There's not a false note. Smarsh, as a writer, is Authentic with a capital A .... This is just what the world needs to hear." --George Hodgman, author of Bettyville, "You might think that a book about growing up on a poor Kansas farm would qualify as 'sociology,' and Heartland certainly does.... But this book is so much more than even the best sociology. It is poetry--of the wind and snow, the two-lane roads running through the wheat, the summer nights when work-drained families drink and dance under the prairie sky." --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed "Sarah Smarsh--tough-minded and rough-hewn--draws us into the real lives of her family, barely making it out there on the American plains. There's not a false note. Smarsh, as a writer, is Authentic with a capital A .... This is just what the world needs to hear." --George Hodgman, author of Bettyville "Sarah Smarsh is one of America's foremost writers on class. Heartland is about an impossible dream for anyone born into poverty--a leap up in class, doubly hard for a woman. Smarsh's journey from a little girl into adulthood in Kansas speaks to tens of thousands of girls now growing up poor in what so many dismiss as 'flyover country.' Heartland offers a fresh and riveting perspective on the middle of the nation all too often told through the prism of men." --Dale Maharidge, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning And Their Children After Them, "A poignant look at growing up in a town 30 miles from the nearest city; learning the value and satisfaction of hard, blue-collar work, and then learning that the rest of the country see that work as something to be pitied; watching her young mother's frustration with living at the "dangerous crossroads of gender and poverty" and understanding that such a fate might be hers, too. This idea is the thread that Smarsh so gracefully weaves throughout the narrative; she addresses the hypothetical child she might or might not eventually have and in doing so addresses all that the next generation Middle Americans living in poverty will face." --Buzzfeed "The difficulty of transcending poverty is the message behind this personal history of growing up in the dusty farmlands of Kansas, where "nothing was more painful ... than true things being denied" ... The takeaway? The working poor don't need our pity; they need to be heard above the din of cliché and without so-called expert interpretation. Smarsh's family are expert enough to correct any misunderstandings about their lives." --Oprah.com "Smarsh's family history, tracing generations of teen mothers and Kansas farmer-laborers, forsakes detailed analysis of Trumpland poverty in favor of a first-person perspective colored by a sophisticated (if general) understanding of structural inequality. But most importantly, her project is shot through with compassion and pride for the screwed-over working class, even while narrating her emergence from it, diving into college instead of motherhood." --Vulture " Sarah Smarsh looks at class divides in the United States while sharing her own story of growing up in poverty before ultimately becoming a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Her memoir doesn't just focus on her own story; it also examines how multiple generations of her family were affected by economic policies and systems." --Bustle "If you're working towards a deeper understanding of our ruptured country, then Sarah Smarsh's memoir and examination of poverty in the American heartland is an essential read. Smarsh chronicles her childhood on the poverty line in Kansas in the '80s and '90s, and the marginalization of people based on their income. When did earning less mean a person was worth less?" --Refinery29 "Blending memoir and reportage, a devastating and smart examination of class and the working poor in America, particularly the rural working poor. An excellent portrait of an often overlooked group." --BookRiot.com "Candid and courageous ... Smarsh's raw and intimate narrative exposes a country of economic inequality that has 'failed its children.'" -- Publishers Weekly , starred review, ""By interweaving memoir, history, and social commentary, this book serves as a countervailing voice to J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy , which blamed individual choices, rather than sociological circumstances, for any one person ending up in poverty. Smarsh believes the American Dream is a myth, noting that success is more dependent on where you were born and to whom ... Will appeal to readers who enjoy memoirs and to sociologists. While Smarsh ends on a hopeful note, she offers a searing indictment of how the poor are viewed and treated in this country." -- Library Journal, "Candid and courageous ... Smarsh's raw and intimate narrative exposes a country of economic inequality that has 'failed its children.'" -- Publishers Weekly , starred review, "The difficulty of transcending poverty is the message behind this personal history of growing up in the dusty farmlands of Kansas, where "nothing was more painful ... than true things being denied" ... The takeaway? The working poor don't need our pity; they need to be heard above the din of cliché and without so-called expert interpretation. Smarsh's family are expert enough to correct any misunderstandings about their lives." --Oprah.com "Candid and courageous ... Smarsh's raw and intimate narrative exposes a country of economic inequality that has 'failed its children.'" -- Publishers Weekly , starred review, "[A] powerful message of class bias ... A potent social and economic message [is] embedded within an affecting memoir." -- Kirkus , starred review, "A deeply humane memoir that crackles with clarifying insight, Heartland is one of a growing number of important works - including Matthew Desmond''s Evicted and Amy Goldstein''s Janesville - that together merit their own section in nonfiction aisles across the country: America''s postindustrial decline. . . . With deft primers on the Homestead Act, the farming crisis of the ''80s, and Reaganomics, Smarsh shows how the false promise of the ''American dream'' was used to subjugate the poor. It''s a powerful mantra." -- New York Times Book Review "In her sharply-observed, big-hearted memoir, Heartland , Smarsh chronicles the human toll of inequality, her own childhood a case study ... what this book offers is a tour through the messy and changed reality of the American dream, and a love letter to the unruly but still beautiful place she called home. -- Boston Globe "A poignant look at growing up in a town 30 miles from the nearest city; learning the value and satisfaction of hard, blue-collar work, and then learning that the rest of the country see that work as something to be pitied; watching her young mother''s frustration with living at the "dangerous crossroads of gender and poverty" and understanding that such a fate might be hers, too. This idea is the thread that Smarsh so gracefully weaves throughout the narrative; she addresses the hypothetical child she might or might not eventually have and in doing so addresses all that the next generation Middle Americans living in poverty will face." --Buzzfeed "The difficulty of transcending poverty is the message behind this personal history of growing up in the dusty farmlands of Kansas, where "nothing was more painful ... than true things being denied" ... The takeaway? The working poor don''t need our pity; they need to be heard above the din of cliché and without so-called expert interpretation. Smarsh''s family are expert enough to correct any misunderstandings about their lives." --Oprah.com "Startlingly vivid ... an absorbing, important work in a country that needs to know more about itself." -- Christian Science Monitor "Smarsh''s family history, tracing generations of teen mothers and Kansas farmer-laborers, forsakes detailed analysis of Trumpland poverty in favor of a first-person perspective colored by a sophisticated (if general) understanding of structural inequality. But most importantly, her project is shot through with compassion and pride for the screwed-over working class, even while narrating her emergence from it, diving into college instead of motherhood." --Vulture " Sarah Smarsh looks at class divides in the United States while sharing her own story of growing up in poverty before ultimately becoming a fellow at Harvard''s Kennedy School of Government. Her memoir doesn''t just focus on her own story; it also examines how multiple generations of her family were affected by economic policies and systems." --Bustle "If you''re working towards a deeper understanding of our ruptured country, then Sarah Smarsh''s memoir and examination of poverty in the American heartland is an essential read. Smarsh chronicles her childhood on the poverty line in Kansas in the ''80s and ''90s, and the marginalization of people based on their income. When did earning less mean a person was worth less?" --Refinery29 "Blending memoir and reportage, a devastating and smart examination of class and the working poor in America, particularly the rural working poor. An excellent portrait of an often overlooked group." --BookRiot.com "Candid and courageous ... Smarsh''s raw and intimate narrative exposes a country of economic inequality that has ''failed its children.''" -- Publishers Weekly , starred review
Dewey Decimal
978.1/843 B
Synopsis
*Finalist for the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize* *Instant New York Times Bestseller* * Named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Post, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness, Bustle , and Publishers Weekly * An essential read for our times: an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country. Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up on a farm thirty miles west of Wichita, we are given a unique and essential look into the lives of poor and working class Americans living in the heartland. During Sarah's turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her; untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves with clarity and precision but without judgement, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country. A beautifully written memoir that combines personal narrative with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, Heartland examines the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less. "A deeply humane memoir that crackles with clarifying insight, Heartland is one of a growing number of important works--including Matthew Desmond's Evicted and Amy Goldstein's Janesville --that together merit their own section in nonfiction aisles across the country: America's postindustrial decline...Smarsh shows how the false promise of the 'American dream' was used to subjugate the poor. It's a powerful mantra" ( The New York Times Book Review) .
LC Classification Number
HD8073.S637A3 2018

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5.0
6 product ratings
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  • by bspec123
    01 May, 2020

    Great book!

    Captivating story, honestly portraying the author’s life growing up in rural Kansas; she weaves stories about the lives of her teenaged mom and young father and her grandparents, especially her grandmother Betty, who helped to raise her. Somewhat in the same vein as Educated and The Glass Castle., this story is about a smart young girl who determines she is going to break the cycle of poverty and dysfunction her family has experienced. She invents and talks to her unformed, imaginary daughter and tells her she will not become a teenaged mother and continue the cycle. Highly recommend!

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: thrift.books

  • by mimi3dms
    15 Jan, 2019

    perfect description

    I was stunned by this book as it described so accurately many experiences I have had and observed in Kansas growing up, never finding the right words to even understand myself. Thank you. I got the book and was unable to stop reading until the end and then wanted more.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: NewSold by: andbo9642

  • by josc_1400
    17 Mar, 2021

    Farm Life in the 1980-1990

    This book gives a good idea of what life it like in the 1980-1990 for those who lived in the Midwest and were farmers. It is very interesting and well written.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: betterworldbooks

  • by pearlring55
    18 Feb, 2019

    Interesting and food for thought.

    This would be an interesting book club book. Living my whole life in Kansas made it even more interesting

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: NewSold by: topmaxim_21

  • by katmondu2
    18 Feb, 2020

    True to the content of the book.

    Interesting information of people from around the Wichita area as I lived there from 1951-1967.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-ownedSold by: mtwyouth

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