My guest this week is Beth Macy, the award-winning author of three New York Times bestselling books that examine rural communities left behind by corporate greed and political indifference.
Beth's first book, “Factory Man”, explored the aftermath of globalization on rural communities and won a J. Anthony Lucas Prize. “Dopesick,” her investigation of the opioid crisis, won an LA Times Book Prize and was described as “a masterwork of narrative nonfiction” by the New York Times. (It was also made into a Peabody- and Emmy-award winning Hulu series starring Michael Keaton.)
Her newest book, “Paper Girl,” has just been released and is a combination of memoir and reported analysis of the rural-urban divide told through the lenses of backward mobility, political polarization, and the decimation of local news. Beth lives in Roanoke, Virginia.
We covered:
- How politics divided her family, and the skills she used to write a book about it
- How a Pell grant helped Beth out of poverty, into college, and ultimately into a career in journalism
- Publishing her first book at age fifty
- Why writing books is easier than writing for a newspaper
- Her telltale signs for when she’s stumbled on a good story
- Getting through the big-city gatekeepers to tell stories of small towns
- Why the collapse of local news and public education are playing such a huge role in making us so polarized
- How policy changes shape our everyday reality
- Using personal deadlines as an “anxiety-management tool”
- How clustering tasks–such as reporting, interviewing, writing, and editing helps give structure to a long-term deadline
Connect with Beth on Bluesky and/or Instagram @bethmacy.
For full show notes with links to everything we discuss, plus bonus photos!, visit katehanley.substack.com.
Thank you for listening!
And thanks to this week’s sponsor, Aqua Tru. Visit aquatru.com and use code KATE to save 20% off a great countertop reverse osmosis water filter that I have been using and loving for years now. Comes with a 1-year warranty and a 30-day money back guarantee.

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