Welcome back to the 10 Blocks podcast. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal.

Joining me on the show today,

and he's been on before, is Rob Henderson. His weekly substack newsletter on human nature, social

class, and a lot more, now reaches nearly 50,000 subscribers. He's written a number of times for

Citigernel Journal on artificial intelligence most recently,

but also on cancel culture, Western prosperity, and other topics.

His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Boston Globe,

Psychology Today, and other prominent outlets.

Today, though, we're going to be discussing his brand new book, Troubled,

a memoir of foster care, family, and social class, which is out February 20th. It's a compelling

read. So we're very glad to have Rob on to talk about it. So thanks very much for joining it.

Thank you, Brian. Yeah, it's great to be here.

And yeah, it's good to be back on the podcast. You know, troubled, as I say, it's a compelling read.

It's really a personal memoir. It begins as a story of abandonment. You narrate how your father left

your mother when you were a child, an infant, and you were then taken from your mother who succumbed to

a drug addiction. I think when you were only three, you spent the next four years moving between

foster homes in Los Angeles, often carrying along your belongings such as they were in a plastic garbage bag.

It's a very striking and upsetting story.

Eventually, you gained a permanent family when a rural California couple adopted you or seemingly

permanent family, but then you were plunged into uncertainty again when their marriage

dissolved and your adoptive father cut ties with

you. So, you know, so many of the parental figures in your life and neglected you in some way.

...