Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, by Rob Henderson (Gallery Books, 336 pp., $28.99)
Frederick Douglass described in his famous memoir how, when his master discovered his wife teaching their young slave Frederick to read, he chided her: “If you teach him how to read, he’ll want to know how to write, and this accomplished, he’ll be running away with himself.” This realization — that reading helps you escape — motivated Douglass to secretly learn. And it was the critical first step in his development into a renowned writer and orator, annunciating with firsthand clarity the evils of life as a slave.
Rob Henderson’s powerful new memoir, Troubled, echoes this theme and experience, chronicling his childhood as a neglected foster kid. As with Douglass, Henderson’s deep literacy and learning, combined with a straightforward and thoughtful writing voice, allow him to translate the experiences of a dangerously underprivileged youth as few who endure privation as children are able to do. And these adversities and skills forged Henderson into a keen social critic and advocate for the supreme value of stable, loving families.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the National Review (paywall)
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Hannah Meyers is director of the policing and public safety initiative at the Manhattan Institute.
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