After listening to interviews with the authors and reading about the controversy surrounding the statistics throughout the book, I felt it was finally time to dive into White Rural Rage. To no surprise, between the highly relevant subject matter in today’s political climate and the professional backgrounds of the authors, this book flew off the shelves immediately. What I feared, and what the decision with the cover art solidified, is that the book’s intentions might be excellent, but the presentation of the information appeals primarily to one group. Given the entire book approaches the complex nature of today’s politics, this seemed like a missed opportunity for change and mutual understanding.
Because of the complaints surrounding the misrepresentation of statistical data and research, I won’t pull any of the numbers utilized in the book to support claims. To write this book, Paul Waldman and Thomas Schaller sought out, both through reading and interviews, a way to express and factually support the idea that white Americans in rural areas wield a powerful voice in government yet repeatedly elect leaders that fail to benefit their demographic. I think the shock value of the title, namely the word “rage,” prompted most of the controversy surrounding this book, which obviously made it a hot point of conversation—but at the expense of some readers that might have otherwise picked up a copy.
The most important thing about this book, and the takeaway I think would benefit an audience far beyond what the book’s reach will ever be, is how it addresses what is (and isn’t) happening in rural areas, and how politicians can leave these areas ignored and abandoned once they actually reach office. This, in brief, answers the question that everyone has asked, no matter where they stand politically, for the last decade: how did we get here?
White Rural Rage tries to touch on a lot of subjects to make sense of the current political climate which is, to say the least, highly divisive. In this way, it was successful. Hospital closures leaving rural areas without adequate medical care, high rates of gun-related deaths in rural areas attributed often to suicide, the continued decline in the number of local farms—the book reminds its liberal audience of why things are the way they are. The authors want to make sure people grasp what would lead a middle-class citizen in the heart of rural America to support the politicians they have over the years; the authors also want to make it clear that this path has led not to prosperity but to continued deprivation of essential resources.
One point that felt especially relevant as someone that grew up in a small town and experienced this firsthand is the concept of brain drain. Time, money, energy, love, and genuine effort go into shaping the highest performers growing up in rural areas—but once they graduate, they often fly the coop, never to return. It starts with college, and from there, the former locals want economic opportunities that they often are unable to find in the areas they came from. If a young man that thrives in his hometown goes to college to study aerospace engineering, there is a good chance he will be hard pressed to get a career in that field where he grew up, leaving him no choice but to flock to more urban areas. White Rural Rage reminds readers that this phenomenon can be crippling to small towns because a great deal of resources go into modeling these children that often do not end up giving back to their own communities. I am guilty of that myself, and I completely agree that it is an unfortunate reality. Again, this is a place where the book succeeds.
Where the book fails is in its marketing and in some of its presentation of information. This book should be a wake-up call for people that are trapped in a cycle of neglect from politicians; it is an acknowledgement that rural life is plagued by challenges despite the electoral power and high level of representation in government when looking at ratio of citizens per representative on the federal level. While some things are beyond the control of the writers, like the immediate distrust of people with opposing political views as a result of knowing the writers are Democrats, it would have been worth the risk of losing some leftist readers to try making this book more approachable to the people impacted by every sentence of it. The urban, left-leaning readers of the book definitely can learn a lot from reading this—especially those that have never lived in rural America—but the rural citizens impacted by the constant betrayal and manipulation needed this information more than anyone. They need to know how people on the other side of the table do see their struggles and do agree that something needs to be done to help. This book could have been a bridge between two sides that are stuck in a battle that is far from its end. By not inviting everyone to the party, the book really just preaches to the choir.
If you’re interested in approaching about what you think you already know and understand with a different lens, White Rural Rage is valuable—whether you live in the heart of Manhattan or in the farmlands of North Dakota; but don’t expect to feel any less sense of frustration and “rage” after reading, regardless of which side of the political fence you fall.