Name: Troubled
ISBN: 9781982168537

Rob Henderson

A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class

Troubled

In this raw coming-of-age memoir, in the vein of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, The Other Wes Moore, and Someone Has Led This Child to Believe, Rob Henderson vividly recounts growing up in foster care, enlisting in the US Air Force, attending elite universities, and pioneering the concept of “luxury beliefs”—ideas 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, Troubled recounts Henderson’s 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—a military career, an undergraduate education from Yale, a PhD from Cambridge—feel 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.

Troubled is written with incredible candor. The matter-of-fact, easy-to-digest writing style belies the amount of effort that must have been required to recall these early memories in such detail. Reading makes me feel like I am right there with young Rob. I am often moved to tears by all that the adults in his life put him through – and all that he did, and chose to do with increasing self-awareness, coming out of those early days.

This account makes me more empathetic to the students with whom I work as a school counsellor; I am reminded that the most “troubled” students are often the ones in need of the most love and support.

Troubled is a must-read – especially for anyone who is interested in social psychology, and anyone who has influence over young minds.

Rachel D

Troubled is written with incredible candor. The matter-of-fact, easy-to-digest writing style belies the amount of effort that must have been required to recall these early memories in such detail. Reading makes me feel like I am right there with young Rob. I am often moved to tears by all that the adults in his life put him through – and all that he did, and chose to do with increasing self-awareness, coming out of those early days.

This account makes me more empathetic to the students with whom I work as a school counsellor; I am reminded that the most “troubled” students are often the ones in need of the most love and support.

Troubled is a must-read – especially for anyone who is interested in social psychology, and anyone who has influence over young minds.

Troubled A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class

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