{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgood-scribes-only.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2F160-american-rust-mini-h2mAq3Sx","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"#160 Voices in Our Heads","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/dc0bf27c-409e-4d1e-9c3d-be80c45f3ec3/fb874b86-74b9-4190-b09e-f4b208843574/copy_of_s8e10.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/5861fe66-6a6e-4068-8232-f0522edb60fc\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"#160 Voices in Our Heads\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"About the Book:\n\nPublished in 2009, American Rust is a stark, deeply human portrait of life in a collapsing industrial town in western Pennsylvania. The novel follows Isaac English and Billy Poe, two young men caught between loyalty, anger, and the dwindling promise of a future that once seemed guaranteed. When a violent incident shatters their already-fragile lives, the consequences ripple outward, touching parents, lovers, and an entire community struggling to survive economic ruin.\n\nGritty yet compassionate, American Rust examines masculinity, class, moral responsibility, and the quiet desperation of people left behind by history. Meyer’s prose is unsentimental but deeply empathetic, revealing how love, shame, and hope persist even in the shadow of decline. The novel was widely praised for its emotional depth and realism and later adapted into a television series, cementing its place as a modern American tragedy."}