The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt Paperback – March 18, 2014

If you live ANYWHERE in America today that is adjusting to the loss of something - anything - economic, cultural, memory - and if you care about that place despite the obvious challenges, this book will help you understand and validate your world and yourself. Hard Way is a masterpiece of place-conscious literature. But what do I know? I've hated shiny new things since I was 8. Punk rock appealed to me instantly. A little shabbiness - patina might be a better word - seems normal, appealing and authentic. Places like Akron - (which rhymes with Dacron the author points out) - are places where we can make a difference. What to make of that half (or is it two-thirds?) of America that is adjusting to hardship and loss? We mostly all live in Akron Nation now. There is not flicker of irony in this book. Its the least ironic thing I've ever read. But it is often hysterically funny, insightful, heartfelt and real. I cried over the ending and am not done thinking about it. I can't wait for the movie.

It brought back memories of the years I worked in Akron. It launched me on a journey of nostalgia. I really enjoyed the stories.

David Giffels has written a wonderful book about time and place, and in the process proves himself to be a master of the personal essay. His pieces are highly personal and particular while at the same time touching on the universal. Like Chuck Klosterman, he writes with a sharp observational eye and an intelligent wit. Of course, you don't have to be from northeast Ohio to appreciate this book, but if you are from there, or like me spent a lot of time there, it would be a shame to miss this fine read.

If you're from Akron, or the Midwest, or not, this book will speak to you. Giffels provides us with a series of thoughtful essays that show us the heart of a hometown and our conflicted love for that elusive "place" we're all from. I've been to Akron, and Cleveland, and Detroit and Pittsburgh, and many other Rust Belt cities and I can sense the joy and the pain of these beautiful cities that can't keep up with changes to the economy and demographics of the US. I've driven down Woodward Road in Detroit from the suburbs to downtown, from prosperous neighborhoods through shattering decay, then back to a bustling downtown. I've watched the Flats in Cleveland go from dilapidated acres of empty buildings, to a rebirth as an entertainment center. Downtown Akron has been transformed to an active destination for students and residents, but all these cities don't have the industrial backbone that sustained them for so many years. These cities survive because of people like David Giffels, who stay and work to make their home a better place. This is an uplifting book of love and determination. I can't wait to read it again.

Being from Akron I found parts of the book funny and interesting. The author, however, tries too much to impress the reader with his vast knowledge of language. He uses high brow vocabulary and some life experiences to describe life in our city and for me it seemed out of place. In addition some things were out of kilter with my life experiences in the same town over my fifty years living in the Akron area. Too much blue blood and not enough blue collar. W. Meyer

Having really enjoyed Giffels's book about his remodeling adventures, I was really hoping this book would be just as good and I think it was. Normally I don't like books that are collections of essays, but these kind of had a flow to them that made it more like he was telling one connected story. Not only people from the Ohio Valley but anyone from a has-been industrial town where the businesses have gone elsewhere and left the townspeople jobless will really be able to relate to much of what David writes about. Plus he has a humorous tone now and then so it's not some dreary book about how sad Akron is now that all the industry is gone. He made me "LOL" more than once during his story, and wipe a tear away, too. That's good enough for me.

I lived in Akron for a period of time that overlapped the time period that David is writing about. He has done a very nice job of capturing the essence of the city during that long period of transition. Very enjoyable read.

Remarkably insightful treasury of essays devoted to being from a place, quantifying that place, finding where you belong in that place and growing to love that place, independently, even when it's a "three-legged dog." This book will resonate deafeningly with those who grew up in prosperous one-industry towns, only to watch that industry dismantled just as they were coming of age and planning their future.If you ever looked at your hometown with hard eyes and asked if you should stay or go, this book is your cultural autobiography.

I was interested in getting more information about the rust belt, and this book presents different sides of it in a brilliant way.