Shopping cart
Your cart empty!
White Rural Rage
A searing portrait and damning takedown of America’s proudest citizens—who are also the least likely to defend its core principles
“This is an important book that ought to be read by anyone who wants to understand politics in the perilous Age of Trump.”—David Corn, New York Times bestselling author of American Psychosis
White rural voters hold the greatest electoral sway of any demographic group in the United States, yet rural communities suffer from poor healthcare access, failing infrastructure, and severe manufacturing and farming job losses. Rural voters believe our nation has betrayed them, and to some degree, they’re right. In White Rural Rage, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman explore why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and why, as a result, they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions. Their rage—stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media—now poses an existential threat to the United States.
Schaller and Waldman show how vulnerable U.S. democracy has become to rural Whites who, despite legitimate grievances, are increasingly inclined to hold racist and xenophobic beliefs, to believe in conspiracy theories, to accept violence as a legitimate course of political action, and to exhibit antidemocratic tendencies. Rural White Americans’ attitude might best be described as “I love my country, but not our country,” Schaller and Waldman argue. This phenomenon is the patriot paradox of rural America: The citizens who take such pride in their patriotism are also the least likely to defend core American principles. And by stoking rural Whites’ anger rather than addressing the hard problems they face, conservative politicians and talking heads create a feedback loop of resentments that are undermining American democracy.
Schaller and Waldman provocatively critique both the structures that permit rural Whites’ disproportionate influence over American governance and the prospects for creating a pluralist, inclusive democracy that delivers policy solutions that benefit rural communities. They conclude with a political reimagining that offers a better future for both rural people and the rest of America.
More Books from Tom Schaller & Paul Waldman
Reviews
I tried - I read the book - constantly attacked for being white, argued that my white privilege has taken advantage of the system - how dare I be white? So glad that two clowns white-xplained things to me - do not buy this book!
By DrMcDougall
Typical self loathing white liberals
By stfukarens
I come from a rural town of Corry PA. The book is accurate about the problems and the conflict of identity vs practicality for rural America. However it’s painting a picture of democrats will save the day type of feeling. Which isn’t true cause no one is going to invest into a town that is dying.
By TiberusXVIII
The social “studies” passed as science in this book are laughable at best. It scares me the statistical modeling that passes as legitimate in this day and age legitimately scares me.
By Eclectic Prophet
Change the color and this would be banned. Pathetic!
By Mochops52