Beth Macy’s 6 favorite books about living in a divided nation

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Journalist Beth Macy is the author of four books about the hollowing out of the American dream, including the 2018 best seller Dopesick. Her new book, Paper Girl, blends memoir and reportage to chart the rise of political despair in her Ohio hometown.

‘Achieving Our Country’ by Richard Rorty (1998)

Rorty, a philosopher, predicted the ascent of a strongman like Trump and all the discrimination, selfish behavior, and weakening of societal institutions that followed. But he didn’t spare his fellow liberals, asking hard questions of the Left, which stood by as unions were destroyed, jobs sent away, and regulations squelched. Buy it here.

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‘The Fire Is Upon Us’ by Nicholas Buccola (2019)

It’s worth revisiting this page-turning deep dive into a historic 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. I listened and relistened to it in my car on my trips home to Ohio because Baldwin is a master at making you understand how hatred becomes a seductive tool for the hopeless. Buy it here.

‘The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War’ by Jeff Sharlet (2023)

A fearless reporter and one of the best living nonfiction sentence writers of our times, Sharlet presciently predicts the country’s descent into authoritarianism by visiting people in the very places where most urban “elites” never go. Buy it here.

‘Trampoline’ by Robert Gipe (2015)

Through people who are as hilarious as their situations are dire, this illustrated novel by the bard of Appalachia makes you feel for those whose lands and bodies were exploited by corporations out to make a buck. It’s the first in a trilogy of thoroughly original stories that celebrate Appalachians’ chin-out grit. Buy it here.

‘Poverty, by America’ by Matthew Desmond (2023)

The marginalia in my copy run deep; dog-ears abound. Desmond melds history and original reporting with fiercely eloquent arguments about how America turned its back on low-wage workers, especially women, by electing people who divide and conquer. An inspiring manifesto that urges us to do better. Buy it here.

‘One Long Night’ by Andrea Pitzer (2017)

This history of concentration camps is, alas, another prescient marvel. Through exquisite research, Pitzer documents the evolution of camps around the world, beginning with Marines landing on Cuba in the 19th century. Pair it with Pitzer’s newsletter, Degenerate Art, a weekly must-read. Buy it here.