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A review by ncrabb
Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse by Timothy P. Carney
4.0
Just how did Donald Trump get through the hurdles of the early Republican primaries? He was up against formidable candidates by any measure, yet he inexorably dispatched them all. How?
That’s the question this author answers in this book. And the answers are fascinating indeed. So who are you blaming? Texans perhaps? No, not so much. Surely those who think like Utah conservatives are responsible. If you buy that, you’ve not read this.
According to this author, Trump did better among people who believe the American dream is indeed dead. He succeeded in communities where churches are closing from disuse and PTA slots go ominously unfilled.
In communities where there are predominantly two-parent in-tact families and where the local church, library or even common ground of the school provide senses of community, Trump did poorly. Carney says wherever communities are bonded with common purposes whether it’s a tight-knit church community or even an active school environment where parents are keenly interested in what the kids are learning, the American dream is not dead, and the Trump message carried less appeal.
Carney provides compelling arguments for small government approaches to things, believing that whether you live in Chevy Chase, Maryland or Provo, Utah, you benefit from a sense of community regardless of which side of the aisle you’re on. He points to places where religion genuinely matters to the residents and details the giving habits and service-to-others records of those communities.
This book fascinated and surprised me. He says Trump supporters tend to come from communities that are struggling for reasons that aren’t entirely limited to economics. For example, most of President Trump’s early primary supporters claim that religion is important to them. But dig deeper, and you learn that many of them don’t regularly darken the door of the church house.
The book doesn’t look at the general election; instead, it focuses on those early primaries, and Carney tells us that those early supporters are among those who feel that America isn’t even the country with which they’re familiar anymore.
That’s the question this author answers in this book. And the answers are fascinating indeed. So who are you blaming? Texans perhaps? No, not so much. Surely those who think like Utah conservatives are responsible. If you buy that, you’ve not read this.
According to this author, Trump did better among people who believe the American dream is indeed dead. He succeeded in communities where churches are closing from disuse and PTA slots go ominously unfilled.
In communities where there are predominantly two-parent in-tact families and where the local church, library or even common ground of the school provide senses of community, Trump did poorly. Carney says wherever communities are bonded with common purposes whether it’s a tight-knit church community or even an active school environment where parents are keenly interested in what the kids are learning, the American dream is not dead, and the Trump message carried less appeal.
Carney provides compelling arguments for small government approaches to things, believing that whether you live in Chevy Chase, Maryland or Provo, Utah, you benefit from a sense of community regardless of which side of the aisle you’re on. He points to places where religion genuinely matters to the residents and details the giving habits and service-to-others records of those communities.
This book fascinated and surprised me. He says Trump supporters tend to come from communities that are struggling for reasons that aren’t entirely limited to economics. For example, most of President Trump’s early primary supporters claim that religion is important to them. But dig deeper, and you learn that many of them don’t regularly darken the door of the church house.
The book doesn’t look at the general election; instead, it focuses on those early primaries, and Carney tells us that those early supporters are among those who feel that America isn’t even the country with which they’re familiar anymore.