It's a collection of stories and experiences from over forty heroes, like Hershel "Woody" Williams, a Medal of Honor recipient from Iwo Jima, and men who were prisoners of war.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A profound book.... It will break your heart but also leave you with hope." —J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy "[A] deeply empathetic book." —The Economist With stark photo essays and unforgettable true stories, Chris Arnade cuts through "expert" pontification on inequality, addiction, and poverty to allow those who have been left behind to define themselves on their own terms. After abandoning his Wall Street career, Chris Arnade decided to document poverty and addiction in the Bronx. He began interviewing, photographing, and becoming close friends with homeless addicts, and spent hours in drug dens and McDonald's. Then he started driving across America to see how the rest of the country compared. He found the same types of stories everywhere, across lines of race, ethnicity, religion, and geography. The people he got to know, from Alabama and California to Maine and Nevada, gave Arnade a new respect for the dignity and resilience of what he calls America's Back Row--those who lack the credentials and advantages of the so-called meritocratic upper class. The strivers in the Front Row, with their advanced degrees and upward mobility, see the Back Row's values as worthless. They scorn anyone who stays in a dying town or city as foolish, and mock anyone who clings to religion or tradition as naïve. As Takeesha, a woman in the Bronx, told Arnade, she wants to be seen she sees herself: "a prostitute, a mother of six, and a child of God." This book is his attempt to help the rest of us truly see, hear, and respect millions of people who've been left behind.

This book is an inquiry with God regarding some tough questions we humans have been reluctant to ask. It comes out of a background in which the author has had his job threatened and his integrity as a Christian doubted because of questions he has asked regarding what both religion and society have told him is true. The author believes that we still live in the dark ages of relationships because we have been afraid to ask those questions that, had we asked and found answers to them, could have delivered us from the kind of suspicion, distrust and hatred that permeates life around the world. The author calls into question the very purpose of some religions because they have often placed shackles on the best resource God has given us, which is none other than our magnificent brains. Some religious leaders claim to know everything humans will ever need to know, and, therefore, require their followers to accept without question what they tell them to believe. This claim is nothing other than an attempt to play God, for it is only God who knows all there is to know. By limiting ourselves to knowledge given in the past, we have no chance to discover truth that continues to evolve in many different areas of life. The intention of this book is to help us realize that it is okay to ask God some tough questions, and that it is through asking about things we do not yet understand that life will become more meaningful, not only for us, but for those with whom we live.