ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
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.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Adam Theron-Lee Rensch was born and raised in Northwest Ohio. He writes regularly on topics ranging from class inequality and contemporary politics to pop culture and aesthetics. He lives in Chicago.
REVIEWS
“Rensch tells his story in beautiful prose, and evinces a commitment to humanity, justice, and a different sort of society that is all too rare today.”
— Bhaskar Sunkara, author of "The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality"
"A well-told account of inequality and the lack of social mobility."
— Socialist Standard
"An eye-opening cultural analysis, No Home for You Here shows how the definition of the 'working class' pervading the popular imagination in the past few decades obscures this group’s identity primarily as workers. . . . This refreshingly accessible book tells the very personal and self-reflective tale of how Rensch came to really understand class as Marxists do, as a relation of capitalism. . . . Many readers will see themselves and their loved ones described somewhere in these brutally honest and relatable pages. . . . The personal, nuanced-yet-straightforward understanding of the working class No Home for You Here offers matters for anyone who wants to understand not just US politics as it currently plays out, but also the prospects for an emancipatory politics in the future."
— June Ann Jones, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books
"Rensch weaves a portrait of his life and that of his family and friends in rural northwest Ohio into the picture of late capitalism and its accompanying neoliberalism."
— H-Socialisms
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue: You Can’t Go Home Again
1 The Era of Big Government is Over
2 White Trash Nation
3 There is No Such Thing as Society
4 The Culture Wars
5 Inheritance
6 Conditions Are Fundamentally Sound
7 Deaths of Despair
Epilogue: The Stories We Tell
References
Acknowledgements
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.