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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Not what I expected—but so much better. The profiles are almost poems. The humor mixed with fear and compassion. It made perfect sense when I discovered the author has written extensively about religion in America—this is politics as religion and it is a must read for anyone wondering how we got to January 6, 2021.
Like many Americans waiting for the fever haze of Trumpistan to fade away, I am nauseated and disgusted at the unreality and fragmentation of the vocal right-wing populists. Still i am in disbelief that any American would vote for Trump, or that 43% of current Americans would again. It's hard to understand how the January 6th insurrection or martyrdom of Ashli Babbitt could take place. And yet.
Jeff Sharlet travelogues in the deep country and exburbs of middle american reveal some of the dark revivialism occurring. Fatalism and religious fever in lockstep, deceived and deceivers, militias and conspirators, and the prophetic dreams of innocence that are the playbook of dicators and facists.
In some ways, this book reminds me as a spiritual successor to George Packer's "The Unwinding", in that the social changes and harsh realities of American life are at bay but processed through people's stories. These are stories of people who believe the hardest, and often with the littlest amounts of inforamtion. Projecting kabbalistic messages from Trump's speeches, distorting Christ's messages through violence, and finding pride in americans losing rights (abortion), while the same voters will stand beside bastardized understandings of the 2nd admendment.
Sharlet relies on wry humor, often skewering the self-deceived, through his text. There are moments of brightness and compassion that shine through, most notably when he reflects on the world he wants to build for his son. There are stories outside the insurrection, journeys to the past when american incivility was also on display. Entertainers like Harry Belafonte or the Weavers attempted to share truth where violence was often a spector on the edges. Other stories closer to our team, such as the Occupy Wall Street Protest, display a shared idealism not bound in lost cause idology or hate.
There is a menacing spirit of 'lost' permeating this book . Lost faith. Lost culture. Lost future. Old myths become warped. Inwardness becomes the truth. The alienation of the pandemic and social media further our dissonance of others. These are perilous times when ideas like democracy are belittled. Expanding outward, the problem seems bigger than party affiliation or the cultural boundaries of the urban/rural divide, as if we have forgotten, we share a basic humanness. Our way forward, if one exists, must be toward some overcoming the limited boundaries of our ego, and that common language of the human tribe.
Jeff Sharlet travelogues in the deep country and exburbs of middle american reveal some of the dark revivialism occurring. Fatalism and religious fever in lockstep, deceived and deceivers, militias and conspirators, and the prophetic dreams of innocence that are the playbook of dicators and facists.
In some ways, this book reminds me as a spiritual successor to George Packer's "The Unwinding", in that the social changes and harsh realities of American life are at bay but processed through people's stories. These are stories of people who believe the hardest, and often with the littlest amounts of inforamtion. Projecting kabbalistic messages from Trump's speeches, distorting Christ's messages through violence, and finding pride in americans losing rights (abortion), while the same voters will stand beside bastardized understandings of the 2nd admendment.
Sharlet relies on wry humor, often skewering the self-deceived, through his text. There are moments of brightness and compassion that shine through, most notably when he reflects on the world he wants to build for his son. There are stories outside the insurrection, journeys to the past when american incivility was also on display. Entertainers like Harry Belafonte or the Weavers attempted to share truth where violence was often a spector on the edges. Other stories closer to our team, such as the Occupy Wall Street Protest, display a shared idealism not bound in lost cause idology or hate.
There is a menacing spirit of 'lost' permeating this book . Lost faith. Lost culture. Lost future. Old myths become warped. Inwardness becomes the truth. The alienation of the pandemic and social media further our dissonance of others. These are perilous times when ideas like democracy are belittled. Expanding outward, the problem seems bigger than party affiliation or the cultural boundaries of the urban/rural divide, as if we have forgotten, we share a basic humanness. Our way forward, if one exists, must be toward some overcoming the limited boundaries of our ego, and that common language of the human tribe.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I've read and studied a lot about the development and evolution of far right movements in the United States and I went into this expecting Jeff Sharlet's work to shed some more light on it perhaps from a more personal/personable perspective rather than the cold hard statistics of academic studies. And while The Undertow accomplished this, it was also a bit of a drag for me.
I do not just mean that it is tough reading material and the reader should expect their mood to decline while following Sharlet's adventures through extremist/normal America, which at times seems both patently ridiculous and plainly banal.
I am not one to enjoy poetic writing. I like my stories to make sense and get to the point. Sharlet has a very interesting style of writing that is almost poetic. It makes moments of interaction, which from a typical writing style would be described as a "he said, she said" type of dialogue to one where text become subtext and background thoughts become the driving idea of the whole interaction. The actual words spoken in conversation are like afterthoughts, at times seemingly meaningless. Perhaps that is the point Sharlet is making: for a significant portion of this country, and a significant portion of the people he encountered in this book, belief and meaning are sacred but must be covered in a veil of secrecy and deception.
Nevertheless, as artsy and even at times quite beautiful as the writing was, I think such prose got in the way of my ability to truly explore the lessons of this book. For one, I did not identify the "hopeful" part that the reviewers on the jacket cover expressed when they said this book was at once hopeful and depressing. Perhaps this was to be found in the opening and closing chapters on Harry Belafonte and Lee Hays respectively. All I could grab from the text were the stories of musical legends past their prime. It's a shame that the writing got in front of the enjoyment I had of the book because the true meat and potatoes everything in between those chapters.
I am quite impressed with Sharlet's ability to place himself amidst cult like movements constantly. He attended Trump rallies, fundamentalist Evangelical Christian church sessions, and other politically skewed events of the right wing. He found ways to visit diners and disaster sites. He even convinced a few folks to invite him into their home. Along his journey, Sharlet overlays the life course of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was killed on January 6th trying to break into the Senate chamber and who's death was posted online instantly for the world to see. Sharlet's adventures through rural, faithful, conservative America revealed more about the general right wing in the country as well as Ashli's fall into the titular undertow. Everyone on the right seemed to want a civil war. Almost everyone Sharlet met owned guns and at least stated they wanted to use them. He even identifies movements I'm intimately familiar with on an academic level: Qanon, MGTOW, incels, militias, Christian nationalist groups, anti-abortion groups (several chapters of his journey occurred just after Roe v Wade was abolished). Throughout his journey, the reader gets the sense that there is a deep and pervasive anger and dissatisfaction with American life, as well as a fear that motivates these individuals to get armed and say they are prepared for civil war.
I have lot's of qualms, particularly about journalists and writers, using the term "civil war" to describe the low level terrorist conflict that the US may end up in if things do go sideways. But I now see why Sharlet decided to use it. Most everyone agreed that a civil war was coming. Granted, Sharlet primed them with a civil war question which is not necessarily the most academically rigorous way to conduct an interview (and a gripe I have with many writers and journalists). But people's responses are revealing. They want the violence and they think they're ready for it. I don't believe them, and woe be unto those who act upon their violent tendencies.
This is also the reason I fail to see an optimistic side to this book. The hatred and fear seems so pervasive in the middle book that the "musician chapters" did almost nothing for me emotionally in calming me down and thinking there's hope. This book took one man's journey through right wing American and demonstrated how twisted people's worldviews were. And yet, crackpot ideas thrown about on Qanon forums and extremist churches and even the very homes of individuals who have a significant portion of their net worth in firearms and ammo are treated as totally understandable and normal in many parts of this huge country. Sharlet sees all this and thinks that there's a way out? With what, music?
The scenes from a slow civil war are powerful for sure, that much I can say. I sympathize with some of the individuals Sharlet comes across, but never empathize. I can never see myself dedicated my life to any extremist ideology. I can never see myself thinking about guns more than anything else. I have too different of a life experience and educational background, which should be okay, except many of these folks might want to kill me for my beliefs (or perhaps my non-belief in their beliefs). If you are the target audience for this book, they may well want to kill you for your beliefs too.
I'm unsure whether to recommend this in its entirety, but if you want a very personal look at what's going on in right wing America, read the middle parts of this book. A warning as you will likely not be in a good mood after reading this, but it is powerful. And for those who appreciate efficient poetic stylistic writing, you may actually enjoy the language of this book even if I didn't.
I do not just mean that it is tough reading material and the reader should expect their mood to decline while following Sharlet's adventures through extremist/normal America, which at times seems both patently ridiculous and plainly banal.
I am not one to enjoy poetic writing. I like my stories to make sense and get to the point. Sharlet has a very interesting style of writing that is almost poetic. It makes moments of interaction, which from a typical writing style would be described as a "he said, she said" type of dialogue to one where text become subtext and background thoughts become the driving idea of the whole interaction. The actual words spoken in conversation are like afterthoughts, at times seemingly meaningless. Perhaps that is the point Sharlet is making: for a significant portion of this country, and a significant portion of the people he encountered in this book, belief and meaning are sacred but must be covered in a veil of secrecy and deception.
Nevertheless, as artsy and even at times quite beautiful as the writing was, I think such prose got in the way of my ability to truly explore the lessons of this book. For one, I did not identify the "hopeful" part that the reviewers on the jacket cover expressed when they said this book was at once hopeful and depressing. Perhaps this was to be found in the opening and closing chapters on Harry Belafonte and Lee Hays respectively. All I could grab from the text were the stories of musical legends past their prime. It's a shame that the writing got in front of the enjoyment I had of the book because the true meat and potatoes everything in between those chapters.
I am quite impressed with Sharlet's ability to place himself amidst cult like movements constantly. He attended Trump rallies, fundamentalist Evangelical Christian church sessions, and other politically skewed events of the right wing. He found ways to visit diners and disaster sites. He even convinced a few folks to invite him into their home. Along his journey, Sharlet overlays the life course of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was killed on January 6th trying to break into the Senate chamber and who's death was posted online instantly for the world to see. Sharlet's adventures through rural, faithful, conservative America revealed more about the general right wing in the country as well as Ashli's fall into the titular undertow. Everyone on the right seemed to want a civil war. Almost everyone Sharlet met owned guns and at least stated they wanted to use them. He even identifies movements I'm intimately familiar with on an academic level: Qanon, MGTOW, incels, militias, Christian nationalist groups, anti-abortion groups (several chapters of his journey occurred just after Roe v Wade was abolished). Throughout his journey, the reader gets the sense that there is a deep and pervasive anger and dissatisfaction with American life, as well as a fear that motivates these individuals to get armed and say they are prepared for civil war.
I have lot's of qualms, particularly about journalists and writers, using the term "civil war" to describe the low level terrorist conflict that the US may end up in if things do go sideways. But I now see why Sharlet decided to use it. Most everyone agreed that a civil war was coming. Granted, Sharlet primed them with a civil war question which is not necessarily the most academically rigorous way to conduct an interview (and a gripe I have with many writers and journalists). But people's responses are revealing. They want the violence and they think they're ready for it. I don't believe them, and woe be unto those who act upon their violent tendencies.
This is also the reason I fail to see an optimistic side to this book. The hatred and fear seems so pervasive in the middle book that the "musician chapters" did almost nothing for me emotionally in calming me down and thinking there's hope. This book took one man's journey through right wing American and demonstrated how twisted people's worldviews were. And yet, crackpot ideas thrown about on Qanon forums and extremist churches and even the very homes of individuals who have a significant portion of their net worth in firearms and ammo are treated as totally understandable and normal in many parts of this huge country. Sharlet sees all this and thinks that there's a way out? With what, music?
The scenes from a slow civil war are powerful for sure, that much I can say. I sympathize with some of the individuals Sharlet comes across, but never empathize. I can never see myself dedicated my life to any extremist ideology. I can never see myself thinking about guns more than anything else. I have too different of a life experience and educational background, which should be okay, except many of these folks might want to kill me for my beliefs (or perhaps my non-belief in their beliefs). If you are the target audience for this book, they may well want to kill you for your beliefs too.
I'm unsure whether to recommend this in its entirety, but if you want a very personal look at what's going on in right wing America, read the middle parts of this book. A warning as you will likely not be in a good mood after reading this, but it is powerful. And for those who appreciate efficient poetic stylistic writing, you may actually enjoy the language of this book even if I didn't.
"This book of stories of difficult people doing terrible things is a register also of grief and its distortions, how loss sometimes curdles into fury and hate, or denial, or delusion. Especially delusion." (From the book's prelude at loc 30 of the kindle version.)
The quote above relates to Trump's followers, which comprises about 90% of the book. The first two chapters and the last oddly have nothing to do with Trump. I believe these other chapters (about Harry Belafonte, Occupy Wall Street protesters, and Lee Hays, a singer with The Weavers) served as a contrast to the Trump followers; people facing adversity who maintained their better selves and fought back with civility and kept their dignity intact.
The author traveled the USA meeting obvious Trump supporters and documenting his encounters (there are a number of pictures included throughout). He must have a very disarming style because people really opened up and many of their responses are thoroughly repulsive.
I've read books about QAnon [b:Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America|57340678|Trust the Plan The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America|William Sommer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1635852203l/57340678._SY75_.jpg|89739850] and Sandy Hook [b:Sandy Hook|59546340|Sandy Hook|Elizabeth Williamson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641236528l/59546340._SY75_.jpg|93782830] and many of these people largely come across the same way. So why read this book? Sharlet has a style (see highlights) that, at its best, is uniquely fascinating. For long stretches I didn't put the book down. I doubt his style would have broad appeal and at times he went on too long or got too esoteric for my liking but I was always curious to find out what he'd say next.
The quote above relates to Trump's followers, which comprises about 90% of the book. The first two chapters and the last oddly have nothing to do with Trump. I believe these other chapters (about Harry Belafonte, Occupy Wall Street protesters, and Lee Hays, a singer with The Weavers) served as a contrast to the Trump followers; people facing adversity who maintained their better selves and fought back with civility and kept their dignity intact.
The author traveled the USA meeting obvious Trump supporters and documenting his encounters (there are a number of pictures included throughout). He must have a very disarming style because people really opened up and many of their responses are thoroughly repulsive.
I've read books about QAnon [b:Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America|57340678|Trust the Plan The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America|William Sommer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1635852203l/57340678._SY75_.jpg|89739850] and Sandy Hook [b:Sandy Hook|59546340|Sandy Hook|Elizabeth Williamson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641236528l/59546340._SY75_.jpg|93782830] and many of these people largely come across the same way. So why read this book? Sharlet has a style (see highlights) that, at its best, is uniquely fascinating. For long stretches I didn't put the book down. I doubt his style would have broad appeal and at times he went on too long or got too esoteric for my liking but I was always curious to find out what he'd say next.
I had missed "scenes" in the title and focused on "slow civil war." So I was surprised by the vivid descriptions. Surprised and pleased. The prose is brilliant. I felt the rhythms of evangelistic preaching whether I was reading of church services or political rallies. I felt the pull the speakers exercised. In the conversations, there were real people talking, not stereotypes.
Authors select detail, and I found myself wondering how typical the vignettes, the proportions. Had Sharlet selected only the vivid and omitted those who might present as more calming? Of one character sketch he did comment that he'd almost not included it as too extreme, yet had searched and found the ideas prevalent. Could I trust that that observation applied to all? Did it matter what percent was represented here? I found myself wondering how preachers and politicians and ordinary people would have sounded in a book written in this style, covering the country and observing, mid 19th century.
The first two chapters and the last chapter present more hopeful people, those who have worked for a change I see as more beneficial. A change we have yet to realize. I found the concluding chapter title an enigma, "The Good Fight is the One You Lose." And yet I appreciated that the book didn't end with impossible easy answers. And I was reminded of my surprise when reading a Howard Zinn book and seeing a revolution that didn't materialize in change not as a failure, but as a success that it had been attempted.
Authors select detail, and I found myself wondering how typical the vignettes, the proportions. Had Sharlet selected only the vivid and omitted those who might present as more calming? Of one character sketch he did comment that he'd almost not included it as too extreme, yet had searched and found the ideas prevalent. Could I trust that that observation applied to all? Did it matter what percent was represented here? I found myself wondering how preachers and politicians and ordinary people would have sounded in a book written in this style, covering the country and observing, mid 19th century.
The first two chapters and the last chapter present more hopeful people, those who have worked for a change I see as more beneficial. A change we have yet to realize. I found the concluding chapter title an enigma, "The Good Fight is the One You Lose." And yet I appreciated that the book didn't end with impossible easy answers. And I was reminded of my surprise when reading a Howard Zinn book and seeing a revolution that didn't materialize in change not as a failure, but as a success that it had been attempted.
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
informative
fast-paced
Informative and honestly horrifying. The weaponization of Christianity in this country is becoming far more dangerous than most people are aware of.
I enjoyed this book, with the definition of enjoyment including frustration. Sharlet does a great job encapsulating many of the ideas and beliefs of the far right while juxtaposing them with the reality so often denied by this population. The wilder the theory, the quicker many of Trump followers cling to the belief and name it fact. I found the writing to be difficult to follow at times, but it honestly matched the author's interview subjects. Sharlet is not afraid of wading into lava hot topics like evangelical Christianity's embrace of far right conspiracies, Ashli Babbitt's shooting on January 6th and her martyrdom among Trump's supporters, and approaching the homes of people whose lives, beliefs, and hopes revolve around the idea that someone might try to take their guns taken away and consider with glee that we could be creeping closer to a civil war. You feel exhausted following them down their conspiracy theory rabbit holes, knowing that they could never be convinced otherwise because, as Sharlet points out, "you can't fact check a myth." One of the more interesting choices to me was the author's decision to bookend his interviews with chapters on singers and activists Harry Belafonte and Lee Hays, who fought for civil rights issues, revealing a sharp contrast to the crazed ideas and objections of men's right activists, MAGA followers, and QAnon folks Sharlet interviewed.
Whoa, lots to think about here. And now I know that I have a lot more exploring of this to do. Fascinating, disturbing. And Sharlet is a great writer. I want to look into his podcasts and other books.