Synopses & Reviews
In this Time Top 100 Book of the Year, the National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Heartland "analyzes how Dolly Parton's songs — and success — have embodied feminism for working-class women" (People).
Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh witnessed firsthand the particular vulnerabilities — and strengths — of women in working poverty. Meanwhile, country songs by female artists played in the background, telling powerful stories about life, men, hard times, and surviving. In her family, she writes, "country music was foremost a language among women. It's how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren't discussed." And no one provided that language better than Dolly Parton.
In this "tribute to the woman who continues to demonstrate that feminism comes in coats of many colors," Smarsh tells readers how Parton's songs have validated women who go unheard: the poor woman, the pregnant teenager, the struggling mother disparaged as "trailer trash." Parton's broader career — from singing on the front porch of her family's cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains to achieving stardom in Nashville and Hollywood, from "girl singer" managed by powerful men to self-made mogul of business and philanthropy — offers a springboard to examining the intersections of gender, class, and culture.
Infused with Smarsh's trademark insight, intelligence, and humanity, this is "an ambitious book" (The New Republic) about the icon Dolly Parton and an "in-depth examination into gender and class and what it means to be a woman and a working-class hero that feels particularly important right now" (Refinery29).
Review
"Affectionate and astute... Smarsh's luminescent prose and briskly tempered storytelling make for an illuminating take on a one-of-a-kind artist." Publishers Weekly, starred review
Review
"Throughout the book, Parton and Smarsh are in unspoken dialogue with one another, sharing common language and struggle through the beauty of country music." Willamette Week
Review
"Smarsh doesn't pretend that Parton was ever a spokesperson for the [feminist] movement. She was something more meaningful: not a mouthpiece but a model." The New Yorker
Review
"A warm-hearted journey into what Dolly means to generations of women who saw their lives reflected in her songs, who first embraced her not as a star but a sister." Elizabeth Catte, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
About the Author
Sarah Smarsh is a journalist who has reported for The New York Times, The Guardian, and many other publications. Her first book, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, was a finalist for the National Book Award. A 2018 research fellow at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Smarsh is a frequent speaker and commentator on economic inequality. She lives in Kansas.