Kristen Martin — The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood - with Lily Meyer

The orphan story has been mythologized: Step one: While a child is still too young to form distinct memories of them, their parents die in an untimely fashion. Step two: Orphan acquires caretakers who amplify the world's cruelty. Step three: Orphan escapes and goes on an adventure, encountering the world's vast possibilities. The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow upends this. Pairing powerful critiques of popular orphan narratives, from Annie to the Boxcar Children to Party of Five, journalist Kristen Martin explores the real history of orphanhood in the United States, from the 1800s to the present. Martin reveals the mission of religious indoctrination that was at the core of the first orphanages, the orphan trains that took parentless children out West (often without a choice), and the inherent classism and racism that still underlies the United States' approach to child welfare. Through a combination of in-depth archival research, memoir (Martin herself lost both her parents when she was quite young), and cultural analysis, The Sun Won't Come out Tomorrow is a compellingly argued, compassionate book that forces us to reconsider autonomy, family, and community. Kristen Martin delivers a searing indictment of America's consistent inability to care for those who need it most. PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781645030348?ic_referral=Jj8uLTJF6vDpYACp24JFDRTeKA4qe3DSSDXL4ZfZShQwM1Y-0-Oc3t3wiKADyu9Z_c36oUNXpp14aA2akPVTG65oJZehlnRuqSxDJM3iH1EJusfuSoY63VQ7Eay348fzg0F4kg Kristen Martin is a writer and critic based in Philadelphia. Her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Republic, NPR, and elsewhere. She received an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. The Sun Won't Come Out Tomorrow is her first book. Martin is in conversation with Lily Meyer, a writer, translator, and critic. Her translations include Claudia Ulloa Donoso's story collections Little Bird and Ice for Martians. Short War is her first novel. *recorded 1/22/2025