The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt

Award-winning author and journalist David Giffels explores the meaning of identity and place, hamburgers, hard work, and basketball in this collection of wry, irreverent essays reflecting on the many aspects of Midwestern culture and life from an insider's perspective.

In The Hard Way on Purpose, David Giffels takes us on an insider's journey through the wreckage and resurgence of America's Rust Belt. A native who never knew the good times, yet never abandoned his hometown of Akron, Giffels plumbs the touchstones and idiosyncrasies of a region where industry has fallen, bowling is a legitimate profession, bizarre weather is the norm, rock 'n' roll is desperate, thrift store culture thrives, and sports is heartbreak. Intelligent, humorous, and warm, Giffels's linked essays are about coming of age in the Midwest and about the stubborn, optimistic, and resourceful people who prevail there.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 03/18/2014
ISBN: 9781451692747
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.50w x 0.80d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 01/20/2014
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2014
Shelf Awareness 03/21/2014
New Yorker (The) 05/04/2014 pg. 11
New York Times Book Review 05/11/2014 pg. 34