Book notes | Strangers in Their Own Land
At the end of a week like no other (the House Jan. 6 committee hearings and Supreme Court decisions on gun control in New York and overturning Roe v. Wade), UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club met on June 24 and had a deep and passionate discussion on Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild.
Although the book had been selected months earlier, it seemed to be a most relevant choice for this particular day. Members of our group all agreed that this well-written and well-researched book helped us to understand how our country has become more divisive and segmented.
Strangers in Their Own Land was published in 2016. At the core of the book is the nagging question of contemporary American politics: Why do people who would seem to benefit most from “liberal” government intervention abhor the very idea?
To explore what she calls “the great paradox,” Hochschild traveled to the deeply conservative Louisiana bayou country—a stronghold of the conservative right and an “extreme example” of a population that strongly opposes many of the ideas she famously champions.
Hochschild, a professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, in fact recognizes many core areas of common concern: the desire for community, the embrace of family and hopes for their children. She also creates a space for normative discussion of widely held issues.
It was a welcome read. And perhaps out there is the conservative counterpart to Hochschild to make a similar journey to a bastion of liberal advocacy.
—Laura Coffin Koch, UMRA Fourth Friday Book Club member
Fourth Friday Book Club to meet June 24
Fri, Jun 24 2022, 2pm
The long-awaited selection Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild will be discussed when UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club meets via Zoom on Friday, June 24, from 2 to 3 pm Central Time.
Hochschild is an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a widely respected sociologist generally associated with the advocacy of liberal causes.
Strangers in Their Own Land was published in 2016; the topic was timely then and perhaps even more so now. At the core of the book is the nagging question of contemporary American politics: Why do people who would seem to benefit most from “liberal” government intervention abhor the very idea?
In the book, Hochschild travels to the deeply conservative Louisiana bayou country, a stronghold of the conservative right—aka the “basket of deplorables,” a population that strongly opposes many of the ideas she famously champions.
Hochschild recognizes many core areas of common concern: the desire for community, the embrace of family, and hope for their children. She also creates a space for normative discussion of widely held issues. It will be a welcome read. And perhaps out there is the conservative counterpart to Hochschild to make a similar journey to the bastions of liberal advocacy.
Email Dorothy Marden or Margaret Catambay for more information including how to join the Zoom meeting.
—Dorothy Marden, Fourth Friday Book Club
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