Heartland

Sarah Smarsh grew up in a poor farm family in the middle of America, and she struggled all her life to overcome the problems—having children young, divorcing, addictions, lack of education—that haunted her family. And she did. Much of the blame for the problems Smarsh lays at the feet of American society, for its condemnation of the struggling poor and its lack of efforts to help families, and much of her work as a journalist centers on helping our country work to do better for the poor.