Courteney Ross’s testimony showed how police departments fail in their duty to protect those who battle addiction Last modified on Mon 5 Apr 2021 13.03 EDT Of all the accounts of George Floyd. “Sarah Smarsh has written a brilliant and compassionate memoir, deeply affectionate yet clear-eyed, a portrait of proud, hardscrabble Midwestern farm families. You will fall in love with the people of Heartland.” —Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle “Smart, nuanced and atmospheric.
- Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Summary
- Reviews Of Heartland By Sarah Smarsh
- Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Summary
- Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Chapter Summary
- Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Reviews
Smarsh in 2018 | |
| Born | 1980 (age 40–41) Kansas, U.S.[1] |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
Sarah Smarsh (born 1980) is an American journalist and nonfiction writer. Published in 2018, Heartland is an autobiographical work which focuses on the lives of her family members, white blue-collar residents of the Midwestern and Southern USA; the book was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize.[2]She Come By It Natural (2020) isa collection of essays about Dolly Parton, provoked by stereotyped coverage of rural people in the context of the 2016 election.[3][4][5][6]
Background[edit]
Smarsh was born in rural Kansas and grew up on farms and in small towns. Her family moved frequently and she attended eight schools before she reached ninth grade.[7] She attended the University of Kansas starting in 1998, and received received her MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University.[8][9]
Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Summary
She has been a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. She has written for publications including the Columbia Journalism Review, the New York Times, The Guardian, and The New Yorker.[10]
Reviews Of Heartland By Sarah Smarsh
References[edit]
- ^Catte, Elizabeth. 'One woman's story of poverty and hard work in America's fly-over country'. Washington Post. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
- ^Dawson, Mackenzie. 'How 'Heartland' author Sarah Smarsh became a hero in rural America'. New York Post. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^Garcia-Navarro, Lulu. 'Author Sarah Smarsh Discusses Her New Book On 'The Great Unifier:' Dolly Parton'. NPR. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^Choate, Emily. 'She Come by It Natural Pays Unique Tribute to Dolly Parton'. Nashville Scene. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^Dundas, Deborah. 'In 'She Come By It Natural,' an homage to Dolly Parton and how her music speaks to women'. Toronto Star. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^Berry, Lorraine. 'Review: How Dolly Parton became an unsung icon of the feminist working class'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^Smarsh, Sarah. 'The working-class kid who became a writer: how a Kansas teacher helped change my life'. The Guardian. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
- ^Keranen, Rachel. 'Review: Heartland by Sarah Smarsh'. Columbia Journal. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
- ^Bierman, Courtney. 'Q&A with KU alumna author, journalist Sarah Smarsh'. The University Daily Kansan. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
- ^Sarah Smarsh author pages:
- 'Sarah Smarsh'. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved October 27, 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- 'Sarah Smarsh'. The Guardian. Retrieved October 24, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- 'Contributors – Sarah Smarsh'. The New Yorker. Retrieved October 24, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
“Heartland,” by Sarah Smarsh, is a memoir of family, a love letter to the child she never had as a teenager and an account of how poverty shapes a life without stability. It is a deeply researched account that follows four generations of her family – of young, single mothers across the windy plains of Kansas – and describes the economic and social context that prevented Sarah from having a stable childhood.
Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Summary
Sarah illustrates not only her life, but her mother’s, her grandmother’s and her great-grandmother’s, showing that the cycle of poverty has lasting repercussions. She shows not only what poverty looks like for a rural family in the heartland, but how it feels and lasts in the way one thinks. Through her poignant storytelling, both from her own memory and carefully researched family history, we gain a sense of perspective through the generations.
The chapters Sarah writes of her life on the farm contain a spirit and connection to place we can all relate to. I could feel the strong winter wind that rips across the Great Plains and gets into your bones – not just as an imagining, but as a memory. When she writes of the red Kansas dirt and the way the wheat planting and harvest schedule overlaid their lives, I found myself replacing it in my mind with our rich clay and the dominant rituals of corn and beans that surround us. Connection to place always speaks to me, and I’ve often wondered why I feel so strongly about where I am. Sarah’s book helps to answer that question.
Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Chapter Summary
So often, the Midwest is a region overlooked by scholars and writers. The complex history of our country’s policies shaped the very patchwork of fields and rivers across this heartland; yet it is hard to find words that put this place into context.
Sarah Smarsh does just that. Through telling her family’s history, stories from her parents and grandparents, overlaid by meticulously researched policies and programs, Sarah is able to illustrate to us how the actions of politicians impacted the lives of millions of working class and poor people in the Midwest, which in turn, also shaped the farmland. Ultimately, what she makes clear is that family, farming and failure are not reflective of an individual’s actions alone. Instead, they are dependent upon the decisions made by people in power – often with very little understanding of their constituents.
Sarah writes of a place that she loves, with great detail and respect for the land and her family, without sacrificing some of the hard truths we must acknowledge about land, class and poverty in the U.S.
For myself, a millennial farmer reader, Sarah writes about times I’ve only heard of: the farm crisis of the 1980s, the Great Depression, her grandpa’s farm’s auction held after his death. She puts words to things it seems like most folks have tried to forget.
Our agricultural landscape of today begs us to understand how we got here. I know what it feels like to be one of the few young people who stayed. I know how it feels to drive through our depopulated state and feel the hopelessness of a deserted Main Street. I know how impossible it is for young, beginning farmers (especially farmers of color) to access land on which to grow.
“Heartland” reminds us that there are greater powers at play: that the economics and politics of rural flyover states don’t hold much weight compared to those from other places; that those people might not fight for us in the way we need. But it also reminds us that it is okay to love what is good – hard work, the feeling after a long day of harvesting a good crop, the connection you feel after helping an animal give birth – while fighting for what is better.
Heartland By Sarah Smarsh Reviews
Maja Black is a member of the Sundog Farm crew in Solon, Iowa, where they raise four seasons of vegetables and rotationally graze sheep and goats.