The enduring theme throughout Heartland is the socioeconomic divide in America and how social order maintains this divide, often for financial reasons. Smarsh’s experience growing up as a member of the poor working class in the Midwest as well as her experience “escaping” this lifestyle give her a rare perspective on this divide.

Throughout the book she argues that being born poor in America almost always means staying poor, no matter how hard you work. She deftly debunks popular stereotypes, such as the idea that poverty is the result of laziness or ignorance. In fact, farmers and laborers are shown to work incredibly hard and must be clever, resourceful, and careful just to scrape by. Despite all of this, the odds are so very much stacked against people born into poor families that few ever escape.

Lack of opportunities in rural areas compounded with no financial means to seek out those opportunities means there is little movement across the divide. As a result, the wealthier classes have little to no idea what it means to live in poverty. Yet, these are the people enacting policies that directly affect the lives—and often survival—of people in the working class.