Take a photo of a barcode or cover
the_library_of_larry 's review for:
The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War
by Jeff Sharlet
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.