Roanoke, Virginia author Beth Macy helped change the trajectory of the opioid epidemic with "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America." Now, she's returning to her hometown to figure out how blue collar people ended up so broke.

Even when she was growing up in the 1970s and '80s,Urbana, Ohio wasn't a utopia — certainly not for her family. Her dad was known as the town drunk, which hurt, as did their poverty. But Urbana had a healthy economy; thriving schools; and a respected newspaper, which Macy delivered as a paper girl.Though the author eventually left for college on a Pell Grant and then a career in Appalachian journalism, she remained grateful to the place that made her.

Fast forward to 2020. As Macy's mother's health declined, she found herself back in Urbana more and more, and she was startled by what she saw — her hometown had become a poorer and angrier place.

Absenteeism soared in schools and workplaces. Her ex-boyfriend, once an arch-liberal, parroted false talking points about Haitian immigrants. Her sister said hateful things about queer people, including Macy's son. And the town's beloved paper had been hollowed out, leaving the community with little local news and even less civic glue.

Beth Macy never imagined taking on this assignment, but after her mother's death, she decided to figure out what happened to Urbana in the forty years since she'd left. The result is an astonishing book that, by taking us into the heart of one place, brings our most urgent national issues into focus. 

"Paper Girl" is a gift of courage, empathy, and insight. In it, Macy faces rifts in her family and community. She challenges herself to listen to people who disagree with her. And in facing their truth — in person, with respect — she finds humanity, dignity, and hope for reunified nation.

This is a hardcover book.

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