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Kansas journalist Sarah Smarsh on her new book 'Bone of the Bone'

Doug Stremel
Spanning several genres including cultural criticism, political commentary and memoir, "Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class" compiles Smarsh's strongest work from the last decade.

Spanning several genres including cultural criticism, political commentary and memoir, "Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class" compiles Smarsh's strongest work from the last decade, and solidifies her as one of the country's leading voices on socio-economic class.

Sarah Smarsh is best known for her 2018 book "Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth", which was a National Book Award Finalist and a New York Times bestseller.

The journalist and author from rural Kansas has become a leading voice on socio-economic class in America over the last decade, and now, she's out with a collection of her previously published work titled "Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class".

Sarah Smarsh told KCUR's Up To Date that many of the issues she's written about over the last 10 years — economic injustice, rural issues and gender — remain just as relevant today, though the political zeitgeist has changed.

"All of that is still with us," Smarsh said on Friday. "The conversation has certainly shifted in certain ways. The political sphere could not be more fraught than it is at this moment."

Rainy Day Books event: Kansas Journalist Sarah Smarsh presents latest book Bone of the Bone, 7 p.m. Monday, September 16, Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary, 707 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112.

Note: Rainy Day Books is a financial supporter of KCUR. Our journalism is editorially independent of funders.

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