{"product_id":"heartland-1","title":"Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by NPR, \u003ci\u003e New York Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBuzzFeed\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBustle\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn 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 and \"a deeply humane memoir that crackles with clarifying insight\".\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSarah 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeautifully written, in a distinctive voice, \u003ci\u003eHeartland\u003c\/i\u003e combines personal narrative with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, challenging \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ethe myths about people thought to be less because they earn less.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSarah Smarsh\u003c\/strong\u003e is a journalist who has reported for \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHarper's Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other publications. Her first book, \u003ci\u003eHeartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth\u003c\/i\u003e, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her second book, \u003ci\u003eShe Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs\u003c\/i\u003e, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Smarsh is a frequent political commentator and speaker on socioeconomic class. She lives in Kansas.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sarah Smarsh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47542954098973,"sku":"9781501133107","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0821\/9095\/8877\/files\/9781501133107.jpg?v=1780065965","url":"https:\/\/staging.anovelideaphilly.com\/products\/heartland-1","provider":"A Novel Idea on Passyunk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}