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Reposted by Beth Macy

Carole Tarrant @carolet.bsky.social · 14h

“‘Paper Girl’ layers memoir with reporting to produce an unsettling portrait of her native Urbana, Ohio, battered all but unrecognizable by opioids and other malignant social currents.” @bethmacy.bsky.social

NPR @npr.org · 1d

In addition to Pynchon's Shadow Ticket, this week's releases include a new memoir from Dopesick author Beth Macy, and a coming-of-age story from former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo.

New books this week: Thomas Pynchon's first novel in 12 years, and much more

In addition to Pynchon's Shadow Ticket, this week's releases include a new memoir from Dopesick author Beth Macy, and a coming-of-age story from former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo.

n.pr

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 8h

Thanks so much for reading and for living with these painful questions with me.

Christine @buddhaclauser.bsky.social · 9h

This very thoughtful and moving book excerpt in The Atlantic by a woman about the fate of her small town, her family and her life after she moved away and her continued relations w a much changed town that reflects our current dilemma. As a small town girl myself-now living in NYC-it resonates.

Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 18h

So grateful to @theatlantic.com for excerpting Paper Girl so beautifully yesterday.

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 18h

So grateful to @theatlantic.com for excerpting Paper Girl so beautifully yesterday.

TheTimeline 🔎🧩 @thetimeline.bsky.social · 22h

GREAT read on our changing society, communities, family-relations, news consumption — and just the change in humanity.

(🎁 gift article)

@bethmacy.bsky.social

What Happened to Ohio?

The fraying of my family and our working-class hometown

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

TheTimeline 🔎🧩 @thetimeline.bsky.social · 22h

Just came to say the same. REALLY well written/woven together look at the nuanced evolution of getting where we are.

Hell, AJC won’t even be PRINTING their paper starting 2026. And THAT is a small (but another way lost) of us even connecting with NEIGHBORS: just going to get the paper.
#following

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Penguin Press @penguinpress.bsky.social · 20h

"Macy’s personal history provides an appealing prism" in PAPER GIRL, as she "takes on the pressing subject of the country’s political divide by returning to her hometown, Urbana, Ohio." @nytimes.com reviews PAPER GIRL.

cc: @bethmacy.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/b...

Revisiting Her Hometown, a Journalist Finds Anger, Addiction and Despair

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Molly McCully Brown @mmccullybrown.bsky.social · 1d

Crucial writing from @bethmacy.bsky.social :

Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 1d

@bethmacy.bsky.social recalls how the collapse of local journalism can decimate a community’s sense of trust.

How the Collapse of Local Journalism Led to the Erosion of Community Trust

My family had once been proud of me. In March 2011, my sister Terry went to the trouble of stuffing Post‑it notes into every issue of O, the Oprah Magazine in the checkout line of her grocery store…

buff.ly

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 1d

I’m glad you liked it. Thanks!

Smoot Hawley remix @manssearch4meaning.bsky.social · 1d

Hello Beth Macy. Thank you for your article in The Atlantic.

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Penguin Press @penguinpress.bsky.social · 1d

Paper Girl by @bethmacy.bsky.social is on sale today! The Washington Post Raves: "There couldn’t be a timelier book than Beth Macy’s searching and deeply reported Paper Girl… searingly poignant, essential.”

www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...

Review | To understand our divided America, she started with her hometown

In “Paper Girl,” Beth Macy describes returning to Urbana, Ohio, once a key stop on the Underground Railroad, now a place where Confederate flags abound.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 1d

@bethmacy.bsky.social recalls how the collapse of local journalism can decimate a community’s sense of trust.

How the Collapse of Local Journalism Led to the Erosion of Community Trust

My family had once been proud of me. In March 2011, my sister Terry went to the trouble of stuffing Post‑it notes into every issue of O, the Oprah Magazine in the checkout line of her grocery store…

buff.ly

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Reposted by Beth Macy

akegley.bsky.social @akegley.bsky.social · 2d

Hoping my copy arrives in today's mail! @bethmacy.bsky.social
Roanoke author Beth Macy’s 'Paper Girl' examines deepening political divides and dwindling options to escape poverty cardinalnews.org/2025/10/07/r...

Roanoke author Beth Macy’s ‘Paper Girl’ examines deepening political divides and dwindling options to escape poverty

“Paper Girl,” which launches worldwide Tuesday, is the latest from the bestselling author of “Dopesick” and “Factory Man.”

cardinalnews.org

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks to Ailsa Chang at All Things Considered for her interview about my new book about that raw wound that is polarization, a pox on our families, friends and nation. www.npr.org/2025/10/06/n...

A new memoir charts the decline and resilience of an Ohio town

In her new memoir, author and journalist Beth Macy returns to her hometown of Urbana, Ill., to learn how it changed from a stable working- and middle-class community to a town struggling with poverty.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Carole Tarrant @carolet.bsky.social · 2d

Hey, did your family break over MAGA politics? Join the club! And listen to my BFF @bethmacy.bsky.social talk about her new memoir “Paper Girl” and how to mend and (maybe) move forward. www.npr.org/2025/10/06/n...

A new memoir charts the decline and resilience of an Ohio town

In her new memoir, author and journalist Beth Macy returns to her hometown of Urbana, Ill., to learn how it changed from a stable working- and middle-class community to a town struggling with poverty.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Beth Macy

blueridgegurl.bsky.social @blueridgegurl.bsky.social · 3d

Beautiful new Opinion piece from @bethmacy.bsky.social: "I’m no better than Silas, and it’s not fair that he and his siblings continue to face such fierce headwinds without the help I took for granted." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Why Can’t Working-Class Kids Make Their Way Out of Ohio?

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

New York Times Opinion @nytopinion.nytimes.com · 6d

“I’m not exaggerating when I say it was a miracle that I left Urbana for college in my mom’s rusted Mustang, praying the whole way that its slippy clutch would not give out,” Beth Macy writes. But the world that allowed her to grow beyond her working-class upbringing in Ohio is no longer the same.

Opinion | Why Can’t Another Working-Class Kid Make Their Way Out of Ohio?

Silas’s future seemed bright except for at least one detail. He didn’t have a car.

nyti.ms

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you Michael!

Michael Planey @airplaney.bsky.social · 5d

This column today by @bethmacy.bsky.social is 100x better than Hillbilly Elegy and far more compassionate.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

P.S.: Send it to your boomer parents to help them to understand how the world has changed since they "bootstrapped" their way to a better life.

Opinion | Why Can’t Working-Class Kids Make Their Way Out of Ohio?

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Michael Planey @airplaney.bsky.social · 5d

This column today by @bethmacy.bsky.social is 100x better than Hillbilly Elegy and far more compassionate.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

P.S.: Send it to your boomer parents to help them to understand how the world has changed since they "bootstrapped" their way to a better life.

Opinion | Why Can’t Working-Class Kids Make Their Way Out of Ohio?

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Penguin Press @penguinpress.bsky.social · 6d

Here's what it takes for a working-class kid to get a college education. Beth Macy's guest essay in today's @nytimes.com will outrage and then inspire you to action.

@bethmacy.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | What It Takes for a Working-Class Kid to Get a College Education

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Beth Macy

Melissa @mmfbooks.bsky.social · 10d

Put this on the shelf next to Matthew Desmond and Heather McGee. #mmfbooksreviews2025

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 6d

Agree. It’s already happening, such a waste of human potential.

Arthur Larkin @artielarkin9.bsky.social · 6d

Heartbreaking column. We owe our kids better. If we don’t fix the education system we’re just digging ourselves into a deeper hole and every future generation will suffer for it.

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 7d

Exactly. Every bit as smart too. Thanks for the kind words!

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 7d

Thank you! I admire his resilience so much, but his journey has been so painful—and he’s one of the luckier ones.

David Garten @davidgarten.bsky.social · 7d

“I’m no better than Silas, and it’s not fair that he and his siblings continue to face such fierce headwinds without the help I took for granted.”

This is a good piece by @bethmacy.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | What It Takes for a Working-Class Kid to Get a College Education

www.nytimes.com

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 7d

I cannot wait to be in convo with the reliably astute and ever-generous @andreapitzer.bsky.social who has helped me so much with all my books! We gotta make a journalism action hero figure in her honor—I mean she needs a cape!

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 7d

Hey, DC area folks! I'll be in conversation with the splendiferous @bethmacy.bsky.social about her new book PAPER GIRL at 7pm on October 22 @politicsprose.bsky.social. It's powerful story, and we'll be diving deep into the current state of the union. I hope to see you there...

Beth Macy — Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America - with Andrea Pitzer — at Conn Ave

politics-prose.com

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 7d

Who couldn’t use a little “compassionate and hopeful” in their lives right now?

Penguin Press @penguinpress.bsky.social · 7d

Paper Girl by @bethmacy.bsky.social is one of Amazon's best books of the month! Amazon's editors say, "Macy [is] one of the best narrative nonfiction writers working today . . . Compassionate and hopeful, this one-day read will stir you to action."
www.amazon.com/gp/browse.ht...

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 8d

Thank you Melissa!

Melissa @mmfbooks.bsky.social · 10d

Put this on the shelf next to Matthew Desmond and Heather McGee. #mmfbooksreviews2025

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Beth Macy @bethmacy.bsky.social · 8d

Thank you for this remarkable, dot-connecting review!

BookPage @readbookpage.bsky.social · 8d

In the wide-ranging yet strikingly intimate PAPER GIRL, Beth Macy returns to her hometown to investigate why her community unraveled. @penguinpress.bsky.social

www.bookpage.com

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