Hochschild is a sociologist and liberal professor from Berkeley, California, who was trying to understand conservatives in the South for the purposes of finding common ground. She searches for the “deep story” of what drives them. It’s a fascinating account of her interviews with residents in Louisiana and their feelings and views about what is happening in modern society and politics.

2016 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR NONFICTION

“Strangers In Their Own Land is by far the best book by an outsider to the Tea Party I have ever encountered.—Forbes

 “Satisfying…[Hochschild’s] analysis is overdue at a time when questions of policy and legislation and even fact have all but vanished from the public discourse.”—Nathaniel Rich, The New York Review of Books

“Arlie Hochschild journeys into a far different world than her liberal academic enclave of Berkeley, into the heartland of the nation’s political right, in order to understand how the conservative white working class sees America. With compassion and empathy, she discovers the narrative that gives meaning and expression to their lives–and which explains their political convictions, along with much else. Anyone who wants to understand modern America should read this captivating book.”—Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

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