Book cover of The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America

Book description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An acclaimed journalist tries to understand how she escaped her small town in Arkansas while her brilliant friend could not, and, in the process, illuminates the unemployment, drug abuse, sexism, and evangelicalism killing poor, rural white women all over America.

“The Forgotten Girls is much…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Forgotten Girls as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

How do rural areas fail young women? Monica Potts relentlessly pursues this question in The Forgotten Girls because, while she escaped this particular kind of failure, her best friend did not.

This is an uncompromising look at the challenges of growing up in Clinton, AR, a typical small southern town that soaks its young people in a particular and complex bath of religiosity and rural politics with a generous handful of toxic sexism thrown in. I felt like Pott's burning questions had become my own. How did we get here? How do we stop this and enable young women to…

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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…

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