STOLEN PRIDE

Her first book since the widely acclaimed Strangers in Their Own Land, Arlie Hochschild's newest book extends her interrogation of American politics, particularly why Donald Trump and the new Republican right has gained such a stronghold in this country. This time, however, she's turned toward Appalachia: a region reeling from deindustrialization, crushing poverty, and a deadly drug crisis.

This book is the culmination of 6 years spent in Appalachia, engaging in long, frank conversations with the residents of this region, narrowing in especially on the voices of blue-collar men. From her time spent within this community, she has uncovered the "pride paradox": the rhetorical alchemy in which Donald Trump and his allies have weaponized economic and cultural loss, turning lost pride into stolen pride, shame into blame, and sharpening that blame into a potent blend of anger and vengeful political animus. Hochschild's great gift is to decode the emotional narratives that demagogues can speak to and lay bare the pain that lies beneath the rage. And in some of the voices she listens to, Hochschild hears an alternative to the inchoate anger, as she and her subjects imagine how we might build bridges and move forward. STOLEN PRIDE is a politically urgent and revelatory new book.