Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

by Jessica Bruder

Swankie and Vincent were quite the pair. The vibrant, gray-haired vandweller stood at least a head taller than her bearded young apprentice, who had a testosterone molecule tattooed to his wrist, and a mischievous smile with a gap on the upper-right-hand side. Pulling that tooth had cost $250, Vincent told me, while a crown would have been $1,000. For many nomads I met, missing teeth were the badge of poverty of which they were most ashamed. Some tried to avoid smiling when my camera came out, or asked me not to share pictures that revealed empty sockets. (It’s sad—but not surprising—that teeth have become a status symbol in a country where more than one in three citizens lack dental coverage, which isn’t included with standard medical insurance.) But Vincent called the gap his straw holder. He flashed it with pride. “Anyone who has a problem with it isn’t someone I’d want to hang out with anyway,” he explained.