Author David Giffels will read and sign books at Main Street Books from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5.
In his collection of linked essays, “The Hard Way On Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt,” Giffels reflects on living in his home town of Akron, Ohio, and staying there when others left. He writes of the heartbreaks and joys of watching your town stumble and regain its footing.
Giffels explores the meaning of identity and place, hamburgers, hard work, and basketball in this collection of wry, irreverent essays reflecting on the many aspects of Midwestern culture and life from an insider’s perspective. Giffels plumbs the touchstones and idiosyncrasies of a region where industry has fallen, bowling is a legitimate profession, extreme weather is the norm, thrift store culture dominates, and sports is heartbreak in a rarely told story of a unique American generation whose deep regional pride was born of economic failure and hardship. Intelligent, humorous, and warm, Giffels’ collection of linked essays is about coming of age in the Midwest, and the stubborn, optimistic, proud, and resourceful people who thrive there.
An assistant professor of English at University of Akron, Giffels teaches creative nonfiction in the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program. Giffels’ previous book, “All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House,” is a memoir of growing into young fatherhood while trying to reclaim a ramshackle mansion. Giffels is coauthor of “Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!” (SAF Publishing, 2003), and “Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron” (University of Akron Press, 1998). He was a longtime columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal and a contributing commentator and essayist on National Public Radio station WKSU.
