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A review by junderscoreb
The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet
2.0
At this point, a book with dispatches from Angry White America is entering a very crowded field. There were some moments in this one that shined through, but it is not one of the stronger efforts. The essays are mostly structured around Sharlet driving across the US and asking random, angry-looking white people what they think about Ashley Babbitt, then writing very stylized accounts of how ridiculous those conversations were. A lot of this felt like exoticizing extremists for people who wanted to reinforce what they already believe.
The scenes from the US coming undone are sandwiched between profiles of two black musicians from decades ago that Sharlet finds inspirational. This structure was clearly an intentional choice that didn't really work for me (although the first essay -- the one about Harry Belafonte, is probably the best part of the whole book.)
It's hard to say how much of my reaction to this was just from sheer exhaustion about this topic. The fact I even picked it up is evidence of how much I've become addicted to feeling bad. But those looking for a US descent into madness centered on January 6th etc would do better with Luke Mogelson's The Storm Is Here
The scenes from the US coming undone are sandwiched between profiles of two black musicians from decades ago that Sharlet finds inspirational. This structure was clearly an intentional choice that didn't really work for me (although the first essay -- the one about Harry Belafonte, is probably the best part of the whole book.)
It's hard to say how much of my reaction to this was just from sheer exhaustion about this topic. The fact I even picked it up is evidence of how much I've become addicted to feeling bad. But those looking for a US descent into madness centered on January 6th etc would do better with Luke Mogelson's The Storm Is Here