{"product_id":"the-forgotten-girls-a-memoir-of-friendship-and-lost-promise-in-rural-america-9780525435365","title":"The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[A] clear-eyed and tender debut . . . This book is as much the author's story as a piece of reportage.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGrowing up gifted and working-class poor in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. The girls bonded over a shared love of reading and learning, even as they navigated the challenges of their tumultuous family lives and declining town--broken marriages, alcohol abuse, and shuttered stores and factories. They pored over the giant map in their middle-school classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape. In the end, Monica left Clinton for college and fulfilled her dreams, but Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYears later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Potts discovered what she already intuitively knew about the women in Arkansas: Their life expectancy had dropped steeply--the sharpest such fall in a century. This decline has been attributed to \"deaths of despair\"--suicide, alcoholism, and drug overdoses--but Potts knew their causes were too complex to identify in a sociological study. She had grown up with these women, and when she saw Darci again, she found that her childhood friend--addicted to drugs, often homeless, a single mother--was now on track to becoming a statistic. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this gripping narrative, Potts deftly pinpoints the choices that sent her and Darci on such different paths and then widens the lens to explain why those choices are so limited.\u003ci\u003e The Forgotten Girls\u003c\/i\u003e is a profound, compassionate look at a population in trouble, and a uniquely personal account of the way larger forces, such as inheritance, education, religion, and politics, shape individual lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-15528463\"\u003eMonica Potts\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House Trade\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/30\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780525435365\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0525435360\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO022000\"\u003eWomen\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-SOC\"\u003eSocial Science\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-SOC045000\"\u003ePoverty \u0026amp; Homelessness\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO026000\"\u003eMemoirs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMonica Potts\u003c\/b\u003e is a senior politics reporter for the website \u003ci\u003eFiveThirtyEight\u003c\/i\u003e. Her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Atlantic, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Republic, \u003c\/i\u003e among other publications, and on NPR. She has been a New America fellow and a senior writer with \u003ci\u003eThe American Prospect\u003c\/i\u003e magazine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Random House Trade","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50811762082089,"sku":"9780525435365","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0855\/5747\/7673\/files\/img_8ebf2bee-e223-49fa-b6d7-14864044fc64.jpg?v=1755540139","url":"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/products\/the-forgotten-girls-a-memoir-of-friendship-and-lost-promise-in-rural-america-9780525435365","provider":"New Jersey Corrections Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}