20th-century addiction adversity ambition america american american-author american-culture american-dream american-history american-literature american-society americana architecture award-winning belonging bestseller betrayal biography boston building building-materials career carpentry challenges character-driven character-study civilengineering class class-divide classic coming-of-age community compassion compelling conflict construction contemporary craftsmanship creativity cultural cultural-commentary culture dedication design determination domestic-life domesticity drama dreams dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family empathy engineering engineering(general) family family-dynamics family-secrets fiction forgiveness friendship general generalinterests hardship harvard healthcare historic-house historic-preservation historical historical-context historical-preservation history home home-building home-construction home-design home-improvement home-ownership home-renovation homebuilding homelessness homeowner homeownership honesty hope house house-renovation housing housing-crisis housing-market human-connection human-interest human-resilience identity industrialtechnology inspiration inspirational inspiring interior-design introspection investigative-journalism investigative-reporting isolation john-irving journalism journey kidder life literary-journalism loss love massachusetts materials materialsscience memoir mental-health mental-illness methods middle-class moving narrative narrative-nonfiction new-england non-fiction nonfiction nonfiction-bestseller nonfiction-book nonfiction-literature obsession passion patient perseverance personal-growth personal-journey personal-narrative personal-narratives personal-struggle poverty poverty-alleviation preservation professional psychological psychology pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-for-general-nonfiction pulitzer-prize-winner pulitzer-prize-winning pulitzer-prize-winning-author real-estate real-life recovery redemption reflection rehabilitation relationship relationships renovating renovation resilience restoration rural rural-america rural-life schizophrenia secrets self-discovery small-town social-class social-commentary social-dynamics social-history social-issues social-justice societal-norms society sociology storytelling struggle substance-abuse suburban-life success success-story suspense sustainability teamwork technology tracy trade trades tragedy transformation triumph true-story urban urban-development urban-planning wealth writing