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  • Troubled

  • A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
  • Written by: Rob Henderson
  • Narrated by: Rob Henderson
  • Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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Troubled

Written by: Rob Henderson
Narrated by: Rob Henderson
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Publisher's Summary

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In this raw coming-of-age memoir, in the vein of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, The Other Wes Moore, and Someone Has Led This Child to Believe, Rob Henderson vividly recounts growing up in foster care, enlisting in the US Air Force, attending elite universities, and pioneering the concept of “luxury beliefs”—ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class while inflicting costs on the less fortunate.

Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. Divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.

An unflinching portrait of shattered families, desperation, and determination, Troubled recounts Henderson’s expectation-defying young life and juxtaposes his story with those of his friends who wound up incarcerated or killed. He retreads the steps and missteps he took to escape the drama and disorder of his youth. As he navigates the peaks and valleys of social class, Henderson finds that he remains on the outside looking in. His greatest achievements—a military career, an undergraduate education from Yale, a PhD from Cambridge—feel like hollow measures of success. He argues that stability at home is more important than external accomplishments, and he illustrates the ways the most privileged among us benefit from a set of social standards that actively harm the most vulnerable.
©2024 Rob Henderson (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

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honest and insightful

excellent book. highly recommend to all but especially to the highly educated people proudly living in ideological bubbles

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The importance of stable families

If you have heard of Rob Henderson it’s probably due to his coining the term ”luxury beliefs.” The term encapsulates the capacity of the upper class to hold certain beliefs that signal status but may actually be harmful to other classes. This book is a moving and powerful account of Rob’s move through foster homes, the military and then to university. I ended up devouring this book in just a day. I think this is one that’s going to stick with me for awhile. Bonus.. it’s read by the author which to me makes it that much easier to recommend.

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Interesting and easy to listen to

A window into the impact of instability during childhood. A first hand experience told in an easy to listen to manner.

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