Bone of the Bone

Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class

By: Sarah Smarsh

Narrated by: Sarah Smarsh

“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.

Critic reviews

"National Book Award finalist Sarah Smarsh performs a collection of her essays written from 2013–2024. After growing up on a wheat farm in Kansas, Smarsh went on to join academia and found herself writing about her working-class childhood. Drawing connections between such diverse topics as the relationship between socioeconomic status and access to dental care and the fallacies of thinking strictly in terms of red and blue states, Smarsh’s essays are full of sharp observations that are as relevant now as when they were first published. Her clear and direct performance draws the listener in from the first moments of the audiobook. Her essays are full of heart, and her narration captures that emotional depth."

Outstanding

I think Sarah holds the keys to understanding rural America. And therefore the key to creating a progressive America.

Thought Provoking

Smarsh offers a valuable perspective on assumptions around the working class, classism in the United States and the current political climate.

Beautiful, meaningful and heart-breaking

This book covers a wide swath of American life and critiques the way our country has marginalized so many different kids of people.
It is clear-eyed in its discussion of inequities, inequality, and even cruelty, ranging from education, politics, the so-called urban/rural divide (among others), the environment and animal rights. She witheringly refutes stereotypes that serve only to demean. Smarsh’s analysis is always nuanced and precise. She examines her own life and family just as honestly and compassionately as her discussion of the many harms various institutions inflict upon so many members of our society by focusing specifically but not exclusively upon the rural poor and working classes. While serious and insightful, it is not depressing. It is a gem of a book, much like her first book Heartland.

A little confusion

When you get to the end, you’ll see the whole story backwards. Sarah feels like the narcissist.

Insightful and delightful storytelling

It’s a n autobiographical portrait of poverty discrimination in American society and culture. With superb storytelling Sarah Smarsh opens a window into what she calls ‘liberal blind spots’, or the prevailing narratives in our culture, including the ‘moral superiority bias’ exercised by coastal affluent Americans, that perpetuates looking down on the poor, and the class warfare that is undermining the American Dream. Marsh, a total insider, points out the typical assumptions about political leanings of the white working class by mainstream media and how they distort reality perpetuating discrimination.