This Is the Place - by Margot Kahn & Kelly McMasters (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A thought-provoking collection of personal essays about home

What makes a home? What do equality, safety, and politics have to do with it? And why is it so important to us to feel like we belong? In this collection, 30 women writers explore the theme in personal essays about neighbors, marriage, kids, sentimental objects, homelessness, domestic violence, solitude, immigration, gentrification, geography, and more. Contributors -- including Amanda Petrusich, Naomi Jackson, Jane Wong, and Jennifer Finney Boylan -- lend a diverse range of voices to this subject that remains at the core of our national conversations. Engaging, insightful, and full of hope, This is the Place will make you laugh, cry, and think hard about home, wherever you may find it.

"This collection, encompassing a spectrum of races, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, political beliefs and classes, could not be timelier . . . open this book, hear its chorus of voices and remember that we are a nation of individuals, bound to each other by our humanity." -- The New York Times Book Review
" . . . an honest portrait of the U.S., pieced together like an imperfect American quilt. We need more books like this." -- BUST

Review Quotes

"If only creating a home were as simple as creating a homepage! This Is the Place beautifully and poignantly explores the many complicated feelings that the concept of home evokes in all of us. A must read for any modern woman, wife, daughter, or mother."-Randi Zuckerberg, best-selling author of Dot Complicated

"An exquisite collection. Whether it be a moving target or a constant, a place of fondness or melancholy, these women look at what we call home, and the roles we have played within it, from every perspective imaginable. This book will inspire you to ponder what your home has been and is-a provocative and worthy pursuit." -Shawn Colvin, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter

"A marvelous collection of original essays that testify to the centrality of home as a place where fantasy and reality collide. Reading the book was like witnessing a series of wrestling matches-the author versus chaos, versus anxiety, versus expectations and finally versus reality. A multi-layered and satisfying anthology of original work."-Thomas Beller, New Yorker contributor and author of J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist

"Rich, thoughtful"--Toronto Star

"The authors of the pieces in this rich collection reveal fresh approaches to making sense of our culture...Their voices help make sense of where we are going, and also where we stay."--Santa Fe New Mexican

"The concept of home has certainly evolved beyond a mother haloed in cake flour making home pleasant, as evidenced by the 30 essays in "This Is the Place," edited by Margot Kahn and Kelly McMasters. This collection, encompassing a spectrum of races, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, political beliefs and classes, could not be timelier. ...open this book, hear its chorus of voices and remember that we are a nation of individuals, bound to each other by our humanity."--The New York Times Book Review

"The essays show an honest portrait of the U.S., pieced together like an imperfect American quilt. In reading these stories, and finding the common ground that is shared in our concepts of home, it's easier to see beyond the differences - and to see the bigger picture. We need more books like this."--BUST.com

"This Is the Place allows some of America's brightest female writers to explore the often complex and contradictory emotions they have about perhaps the single most emotionally charged word in the English language: home."--New York Journal of Books

About the Author

Margot Kahn is the author of the biography Horses That Buck, winner of the High Plains Book Award; her work has appeared in Tablet, River Teeth, and the Los Angeles Review, among others.

Kelly McMasters is the author of Welcome to Shirley, one of Oprah's top five summer memoirs; her work has appeared in the NYTimes, Paris Review, Tin House, and many others. Both editors hold MFAs from Columbia University.