Book cover of American Salvage

Book description

American Salvage is rich with local color and peopled with rural characters who love and hate extravagantly. They know how to fix cars and washing machines, how to shoot and clean game, and how to cook up methamphetamine, but they have not figured out how to prosper in the twenty-first…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked American Salvage as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Loads of commentators are talking about the struggles of rural America, but Bonnie Jo Campbell brings those hardships to life in the stories in this book. She intimately knows her place—the rust belt counties of rural Michigan—and her characters are sharply drawn and utterly convincing.

She makes me care about each and every one of them, even when I disagree with them, even when I don’t really like them at all! Still, I understand and respect them, and I’m forced not to treat them as statistics but as human beings. I love the brutal honesty and hard-won moments of hope…

From Joe's list on books about rural America.

If you love American Salvage...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like American Salvage?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like American Salvage.

Browse books like American Salvage

Book cover of Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Book cover of The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Book cover of Plainsong

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,366

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like American Salvage, you might also like...

Book cover of Deadly Revenge

Deadly Revenge by Patricia Bradley,

Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed with…

Book cover of The Duty of Memory

The Duty of Memory by Vicki Olsen,

Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.

This book takes the reader inside the true story of men and women…

5 book lists we think you will like!