Sarah Smarsh Books in Order

This travel guide introduces unusual Kansas attractions beyond the familiar tourist circuit. From Cawker City’s enormous ball of twine to a farm retreat and local wineries, it offers visitors and residents ideas for exploring less obvious destinations.

More than twenty-five short chapters introduce notable events in Kansas history. This collection presents episodes that helped shape the Sunflower State, offering an accessible overview for readers interested in the stories behind its regional identity.

These historical accounts explore notorious criminals and violent episodes from Kansas’s past. Figures including Jesse James, Big Nose Kate, and the prisoner known for his expertise with birds appear in stories that examine the state’s enduring outlaw legends.

Sarah Smarsh recounts growing up in a poor working family in Kansas and traces the hardships faced by earlier generations. Her family history examines how class, economic change, and persistent shame shape lives beyond the promises of the American dream.

Through Dolly Parton’s life and music, Sarah Smarsh explores the resilience and contributions of working-class women. Connecting Parton’s songs with her own family’s experiences, she considers forms of independence and social progress that often go unrecognized as feminism.

Sarah Smarsh's essays connect her Kansas working-class background with questions of poverty, politics, gender, media, and environmental change. Personal experiences and public commentary examine class divisions and the assumptions that often obscure the realities of American life.