No Home for You Here: A Memoir of Class and Culture

by Adam Theron-Lee Rensch

No Home for You Here is a memoir of a life lived in the shadow of Ronald Reagan. Raised in rural Ohio, Adam Theron-Lee Rensch tells the story of a millennial trying—and failing—to leave behind the shame of growing up poor in the middle of nowhere. Interweaving personal narrative and political criticism with recent social and political history, No Home for You Here shows how the interrelationship of class, culture, and identity stifles working-class solidarity by constructing an imagined cultural divide that those in power use to maintain the status quo. With one foot on each side of this division, Rensch moves between the flat horizon of the Midwest and the densely populated streets of the city, bearing witness to the tragic effects of a precarious free-market economy on family and friends. Rather than wallowing in despair, however, No Home for You Here is a timely, passionate call for class consciousness in an era of economic crisis and staggering inequality.

Genres: Memoir

208 pages, Hardcover

Published February 10, 2020

Reviews

[Ffiefvoley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply important book, looking at a class that we habitually demonize but do not understand.

First of all, I would say, don't read this when you're in a dark state of mind. It is extremely heavy, for such a short work.

This book is a beautiful memoir of life lived as a rural, poor American. I could relate to so much of it, having grown up with a large, working class family on a farm in the middle of nowhere. We need to hear more stories from people on the edges of society, the people most affected by the opioid epidemic, by suicide, by financial ruin from their medical problems.

I found the stories of his friends, in particular the man with cystic fibrosis and the man struggling with opioid addiction, and his father, really effecting. I work in healthcare. I see these people every day, and it made me deeply sad.

Please read this book, reflect on it, ponder it, and work to demand a better life for those on the edges of society. People like Adam's family and friends make up an enormous portion of our population, but have so little voice in what happens in the US, and so little access to healthcare, which I firmly believe is a human right.

[Brooks Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This is an effective jab at the paternalism and pathos that characterizes bad liberal journalism, and clichéd sentimental writing generally."