Arlie Russell Hochschild

NOW IN PAPERBACK The New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist that gives us a "generous but disconcerting look at Tea Party backers in Louisiana to explain the way many people in this country live now, often to the astonishment of everyone else" (The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2016)

Anger and Mourning on the American Right

Strangers in Their Own Land

Brendan M

Hochschild climbs over the 'empathy wall' to take a look at another America. Her open-minded exploration of a deep political divide is a model for all those who hope for a kinder, less partisan politics - in America or anywhere else in the world.

2016 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR NONFICTION A 2016 NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEWSDAY TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR A KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF 2016 One of "6 Books to Understand Trump's Win" according to the New York Times the day after the election "This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." --The New York Times Book Review "Satisfying... [Hochschild's] analysis is overdue at a time when questions of policy and legislation and even fact have all but vanished from the public discourse." --The New York Review of Books "Hochschild moves beyond the truism that less affluent voters who support small government and tax cuts are voting against their own economic interest." --O Magazine In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country--a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets--among them a Tea Party activist whose town has been swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a drilling accident--people whose concerns are actually ones that all Americans share: the desire for community, the embrace of family, and hopes for their children. Strangers in Their Own Land goes beyond the commonplace liberal idea that these are people who have been duped into voting against their own interests. Instead, Hochschild finds lives ripped apart by stagnant wages, a loss of home, an elusive American dream--and political choices and views that make sense in the context of their lives. Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of the sociology of emotion to help us understand what it feels like to live in "red" America. Along the way she finds answers to one of the crucial questions of contemporary American politics: why do the people who would seem to benefit most from "liberal" government intervention abhor the very idea?

Melody Izard

Interesting concept. I just really was not in the mood. I feel this world is hopeless. All these crazies who use the bible as their oracle as they are surrounded by glassy eyed, chemical smelling turtles. And the title is explained about 10 times. The first time I appreciated it - then it just annoyed me. I shouldn't be so hard on it, but I was also too submerged in this mess to appreciate.

Bad Girl Bex

Weird read.

I read this book because it sold itself as a hands-on investigation into why the American voting system creates such polarised opinions, tribes and individuals. The author - a self-confessed, lefty professor from Berkeley, CA - claimed to want to get to know and really understand what motivated those who vote Republican. What was it about the inhabitants of red states, that made it appear so difficult for them to get along with Democrat voters?

In an attempt to see through the eyes of the other, the author devised what she called a keyhole issue: something that affects both sides of the partisan divide, that should garner a response from both parties and giver her a way to then step back and use the evidence she reviewed as a means to creating a 'Deep Story', which is a narrative that everyone has inside their own heads, that encompasses all the facts and feelings about said issue. Yeah...it does sound annoyingly theoretical and just the sort of thing you'd have come out of a liberal arts college, but trust me, the concept once revealed does make sense.

The group of people she targets for this study, are those who voted for/registered with/are involved with The Tea Party and who live in Louisiana. She picked Louisiana as it is one of the poorest, most economically disadvantages and environmentally spoiled state in all of the USA, and her 'keyhole issue' was that of pollution; because it was an issue that affected everyone (physically, psychologically, financially) in the state and therefore should be something that concerned all citizens equally.

I think that the author really did approach the study in mind, with the best of intentions. I think she went about doing the 5 years of research and getting to know/befriend various characters, in good faith, with a view to truly trying to see the political divide through their eyes. But it is so incredibly difficult to expect politically involved individuals to truly shake off their self-imposed blinkers and do such a thing. When it's not even something that you can necessarily put into words because it's more of a feeling than a position you've rationalised yourself into...and the author GETS this. She KNOWS this, because when she talks about the 'deep story' that we all have inside ourselves, she refers to the beliefs we hold that are more about feelings than facts. 

But...she still can't quite centre herself and be truly neutral on the issue. Not because she's being disingenuous, because she isn't. I honestly think that she approached this whole project with what she deemed to be an open mind - and heart. You can tell from the way she speaks about those who she followed and kept in touch with, that they touched her and gave her pause to see the humanity in the opposite political position. She was genuinely humbled by many of the experiences she had and found herself liking so many people that crossed her path on this 5 year long mission.

Yet, there remains a sentiment beneath the surface of her just somehow assuming that California leftism was the correct way of thinking and these Tea Party folks, all the way down in Louisiana, well, they're voting for weird, wrong stuff. Not because they're bad people...no, she sees that they are good, honest, caring people...but because they have just been exposed to a different set of circumstances. You get the feeling that the author sort of pities the people she meets along the way (and in some instances, some of the stories are so heartbreakingly unjust, you really can't help but feel sorry for them); it's as if she thinks, maybe if they had been exposed to the correct way of thinking, then they would have the correct opinion and political affiliation. Which in a way is sort of true - not that they are incorrect in their beliefs, but that we are all as much a product of where we are raised, as the way we are raised.

The characters we meet along the way are all incredibly well written. You get a genuine sense of who each of the people are, why they think what they think and at no point is the author uncharitable towards any of them. If anything she paints a picture of some truly lovely, funny, generous, caring, interesting folk who you'd love to kick back and chat and break bread with. I personally would love to have accompanied her on her various meetings with those featured. But there is always that underlying sense of them somehow just not having the most rational, or correct responses to the circumstances in their lives.

What really made this less of a useful text - to me at least - was the way in which the entire book seemed to be more of a treatise on environmentalism and what everyone 'should' think about these issues. The book itself is 50% a detailed journey of her visits and interactions with the people featured and 50% a summary of data collected in regards to her keyhole issue regarding environmental issues like pollution. So you can choose whether to just read the first part for the human aspect, or then read the second half to see what conclusions her findings brought about. The first half is enjoyable and the second half a more informative, scholarly text.

Like I said, it's a weird read. It's almost as if the author couldn't decide on whether she was conducting a social science study, or a human interest piece; so she went with both and I don't think it works as well as she might have wanted it to. It's definitely an interesting read, with the first half worth reading just to get to know more about a state with many more problems than most people probably realise. And the characters we are introduced to, definitely deserve to have their stories heard. Overall, I liked getting to know more about each person and more about Louisiana itself. But I don't think the book succeeded in being the bridge across-the-divide that the author set out to create. It ultimately paints those featured as people who vote against their own interests and who she really wished she could bring around to HER way of thinking. 

Definitely interesting, but weird. Worth a read, even if you just read the first half to learn a bit more about those who you don't know much about. But not a success in the way it sets out to be, from the outset.

The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." —Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.

Strangers in Their Own Land Anger and Mourning on the American Right

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