{"id":2975,"date":"2024-02-20T15:15:17","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T23:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.armenshirvanian.com\/podcast\/?p=2975"},"modified":"2024-02-20T15:15:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T23:15:19","slug":"419-rob-henderson-social-class-family-luxury-beliefs-and-more-in-troubled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.armenshirvanian.com\/podcast\/419-rob-henderson-social-class-family-luxury-beliefs-and-more-in-troubled\/","title":{"rendered":"419: Rob Henderson | Social Class, Family, Luxury Beliefs, And More In “Troubled”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“In this raw coming-of-age memoir, in the vein of\u00a0The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace<\/em>,\u00a0The Other Wes Moore<\/em>, and\u00a0Someone Has Led This Child to Believe<\/em>, Rob Henderson vividly recounts growing up in foster care, enlisting in the US Air Force, attending elite universities, and pioneering the concept of \u201cluxury beliefs\u201d\u2014ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class while inflicting costs on the less fortunate.

Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. Divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.

An unflinching portrait of shattered families, desperation, and determination,\u00a0Troubled<\/em>\u00a0recounts Henderson\u2019s expectation-defying young life and juxtaposes his story with those of his friends who wound up incarcerated or killed. He retreads the steps and missteps he took to escape the drama and disorder of his youth. As he navigates the peaks and valleys of social class, Henderson finds that he remains on the outside looking in. His greatest achievements\u2014a military career, an undergraduate education from Yale, a PhD from Cambridge\u2014feel like hollow measures of success. He argues that stability at home is more important than external accomplishments, and he illustrates the ways the most privileged among us benefit from a set of social standards that actively harm the most vulnerable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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