The Bad Poor

Race, Class, and the Rise of Grit Lit

By: Mitch Ploskonka, Scott Romine (Editor)

Write A Review

Hardcover | 6 April 2026

At a Glance

Hardcover
232 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.6

Hardcover

RRP $104.00

$101.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $25.44 with

Ships in 15 to 25 business days

The Bad Poor examines the rise of Grit Lit, a movement in contemporary southern literature written by and about poor southern whites. Examining issues of genre, race, and culture, Mitch Ploskonka traces the emergence of this iconoclastic mode through its major authors to reveal a literary-cultural identity rooted in difference, marked by resistance to respectability and class performance, and shaped by reckoning with the legacies of whiteness and regional memory.

For those long dismissed as "white trash" and denied an active voice in their own representation, Grit Lit confronts the parallel concerns of finding a way to describe themselves and the means to communicate it appropriately. Beginning with Harry Crews and progressing chronologically to the present--including discussions of key works by Larry Brown, Dorothy Allison, Rick Bragg, and Tom Franklin, among others--Ploskonka examines how Grit Lit authors forge self-representations by experimenting with genres and engaging with identity politics. Through the ongoing search for a usable, unshameful identity, Grit Lit enacts a painful but heartening narrative of grappling with the realities of people and place by acknowledging difference.

As stories about the gritty or rough South proliferate across media, The Bad Poor relates an important story of literary self-fashioning by analyzing a body of literature that speaks to larger cultural discourses regarding racial identity, social justice, disability, and class divisions.

Industry Reviews

"Mitch Ploskonka's provocative meditation on poor whites and their shape-shifting roles in contemporary culture and politics offers deep insight and understanding for readers of the insurgent literary form known as Grit Lit. This is important work, and The Bad Poor does it with style." - Matt Wray, author of Not Quite White: White Trash and the Boundaries of Whiteness "The Bad Poor provides a fresh exploration of Grit Lit through the intersectional lenses of race, feminism, queerness, and disability studies. In this important contribution to southern studies, Ploskonka examines the evolution of Grit Lit, asking a series of urgent and provocative questions about the genre and its evolving forms." - Sarah Robertson, author of Gothic Appalachian Literature

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.