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Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class
“A must-read for today’s politics” (San Francisco Chronicle), the brilliant and provocative essays that established National Book Award finalist Sarah Smarsh as one of the most important commentators on America’s class problem are collected in one searing and insightful volume.
In Bone of the Bone, Sarah Smarsh brings her graceful storytelling and incisive critique to the challenges that define our times—class division, political fissures, gender inequality, environmental crisis, media bias, the rural-urban gulf. Smarsh, a journalist who grew up on a wheat farm in Kansas and was the first in her family to graduate from college, has long focused on cultural dissonance that many in her industry neglected until recently. Now, this thought-provoking collection of more than thirty of her highly relevant, previously published essays from the past decade (2013–2024)—ranging from personal narratives to news commentary—demonstrates a life and a career steeped in the issues that affect our collective future.
“A compassionate look at working-class poverty in America” (Time), Bone of the Bone is a singular work covering one of the most tumultuous decades in civic life. Timely, filled with perspective-shifting observations, and a pleasure to read, Sarah Smarsh’s essays—on topics as varied as the socioeconomic significance of dentistry, laws criminalizing poverty, fallacies of the “red vs. blue” political framework, working as a Hooters Girl, and much more—are an important addition to any discussion on contemporary America.
In Bone of the Bone, Sarah Smarsh brings her graceful storytelling and incisive critique to the challenges that define our times—class division, political fissures, gender inequality, environmental crisis, media bias, the rural-urban gulf. Smarsh, a journalist who grew up on a wheat farm in Kansas and was the first in her family to graduate from college, has long focused on cultural dissonance that many in her industry neglected until recently. Now, this thought-provoking collection of more than thirty of her highly relevant, previously published essays from the past decade (2013–2024)—ranging from personal narratives to news commentary—demonstrates a life and a career steeped in the issues that affect our collective future.
“A compassionate look at working-class poverty in America” (Time), Bone of the Bone is a singular work covering one of the most tumultuous decades in civic life. Timely, filled with perspective-shifting observations, and a pleasure to read, Sarah Smarsh’s essays—on topics as varied as the socioeconomic significance of dentistry, laws criminalizing poverty, fallacies of the “red vs. blue” political framework, working as a Hooters Girl, and much more—are an important addition to any discussion on contemporary America.
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Community Reviews
This was my first Nonfiction November pick and coming in right after the election, it couldn't have been better timing. Sarah Smarsh explains what it is to be invisible amidst extreme classism in the United States, and how that invisibility affects our political landscape. Where society has a tendency to ridicule those in poverty as ignorant constituents who vote against their best interests, Smarsh shines a light on how gerrymandered districts and disinformation have the potential to breed contempt and backlash in voting behaviors. Her insight into how the fall of local press and outreach, decimation of rural communities, and gaming of algorithms have created vacuums where voters are sometimes never exposed to opposing viewpoints or even accurate information is critical in understanding how we got the point we are at today. And it's all related from someone who literally "started from the bottom" and made her way into what could be considered a degree of elitism.
Even as candidates from all sides strategically campaign in areas they consider key to victory, this creates ignored demographics who were otherwise primed and could have potentially driven home wins, had they been given equal attention. My key takeaway is that more than ever, we need to open lines of communication without judgment and not assume everyone has the same access to information we do. When we have privilege, we should use it to educate, not ridicule and denigrate, and be open to the possibility that we may not have all the right information, either. Assumptions are our own worst enemy.
Disclaimer: I am an employee of the publisher, Simon & Schuster. All opinions are my own.
Even as candidates from all sides strategically campaign in areas they consider key to victory, this creates ignored demographics who were otherwise primed and could have potentially driven home wins, had they been given equal attention. My key takeaway is that more than ever, we need to open lines of communication without judgment and not assume everyone has the same access to information we do. When we have privilege, we should use it to educate, not ridicule and denigrate, and be open to the possibility that we may not have all the right information, either. Assumptions are our own worst enemy.
Disclaimer: I am an employee of the publisher, Simon & Schuster. All opinions are my own.
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