Heartland

Sarah Smarsh grew up in Kansas, the fifth-generation descendant of a wheat-farming family in a place that has long been known for its poverty. While her family worked hard and pushed themselves to achieve more than most, the struggles of their generation were doubled by those of their parents and grandparents, who had little hope of escaping their situation. In this memoir, Smarsh tells the story of her own life as well as those of the people she loves, trying to understand what made them different from others and how their mistakes have carried forward into hers. Though she has come to look at class divide as it affects her own life, Smarsh also explores it as lived experience, metaphor, and a level of consciousness. She wants readers to think more carefully about what class really means and how it can affect us all. 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.