Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland

by Jonathan M. Metzel

Pages: 341

Rating 5 out of 5 stars

The author, Jonathan Metzel, a physician reveals how extreme right-wing backlash policies have deadly consequences for the white middle and lower class voters they promise to help. In the Donald Trump era many middle-class white Americans are drawn to him and other politicians promising to make America great for the middle and working class again, but in reality the policies they are putting in place only assist the wealthy and are damaging to all middle and lower class citizens. He examines these policies in relationship to mortality rates and illness rates. 

Having been born in Kansas, grown-up in Missouri and now living and working in Tennessee, he chose these three familiar states to interview everyday citizens. He examines how racial resentment has fueled pro-gun laws in Missouri, resistance to the Affordable Care Act in Tennessee and lead to cuts in school funding and social services in Kansas. 

I had no idea that citizens of other states and researchers have started referring to Missouri as the "Shoot Me State" instead of the "Show Me State" or that Missouri is the state currently being researched the most for gun violence, suicide by guns and overall death by guns. I was also surprised to learn that the suicide by gun rate for white males in Missouri is higher than any other state and for any other group. So, much to learn from this book!!

Thank You Audiobooks!

Lately, I've been having trouble focusing for long enough to get through longer books. Thank you audiobooks for being there for me! This is a tribute to all the audiobooks that have helped me get through the past few months: 

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

I wasn't a huge fan of this one, but I totally get why people liked it. I liked the conflicts between faith and science, adding the immigrant experience, grief, and drug addiction on top of it. The complexity of it made the story feel very real to me. I also enjoyed the little scientific discussions scattered throughout, giving context and relevant analogies to the story.  Plus it's narrated by my faaaaavorite reader, Bahni Turpin. It was an engaging read, and this book would be great for those who like literary fiction and novels highlighting social issues. 

261 pages

Rage by Bob Woodward

I know, I know. Everyone is sick of politics by now. Why would I put myself through this book? (To be fair, I read this in October) It's partly because I've enjoyed Woodward's other books. He asks very good interview questions, and the answers given by the subject in this one are... mindboggling. Not surprising, just perplexing. I really liked how the audiobook had the actual recorded interview segments included in the Appendix. That was cool. This would be a good read for anyone who actually isn't sick of politics right now (so what, that's maybe 50 or so people, if that?).

452 pages

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

The premise of the novel is really good! A family is on vacation, only the homeowners show up to stay while the world is falling apart around them. My biggest issue with the book is that the actual details of the apocalypse are never described besides flashes and tidbits. Was it nuclear war? Climate change? Power outages? Something else? Who knows! That isn't really the point though. This is a well written apocalypse novel for dystopian junkies and literary fiction lovers alike. 

241 pages

Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness and Family Secrets by Luke Dittritch

Dittritch is a journalist, but his grandfather was the brain surgeon who sliced out Henry Molaison's hippocampus, leaving him incapable of storing long term memories. I remember learning about H.M. in a psychology course, but this book got so deep into the personal details of the people surrounding Henry's life. Dude, this doctor was nuts! He climbed the Brooklyn Bridge when it was still under construction! He experimented on (mostly female) asylum patients  just to see what would happen after chopping up their brains! He even conducted surgery on his own wife! That is seriously messed up. Also, the psychologist who worked with Henry later in life was so possessive of him and her research that we can't even look back at her research notes anymore. *insert anger emoji* This story was engaging and shocking, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in medicine, psychology, or narrative nonfiction. 

440 pages

Breakthrough: The Making of America's First Woman President by Nancy L. Cohen

Nancy Cohen interviewed dozens of women politicians from both parties, political consultants, and voters. She takes us through the history of women's involvement in the public square, starting with the fight to win voting rights. The book was written during Hillary Clinton's campaign for president,  but deals with the path she followed to get there, not whether or not she would win (which of course, she did not.

Focusing on the struggle to get women elected, she examines attitudes about women in this country, and the way young women are breaking through the barriers erected to hold them back, especially in politics, but also in many other areas.

I think this is an important book for everyone to read, but especially women. We need to understand our own biases toward ambitious women, and why it is important to have their leavening influence on society.


338 pages

American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee

American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story is about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone and the complex political and scientific issues and debates that arose because of it, as well as being a story about O-Six, a beloved wolf, who's fascinating life was documented by many different trackers.

This strikes a good balance between being informational nonfiction that presents all sides, and telling a captivating story about life as a wolf. I think it would win over many who aren't sure where they stand on the issue of wolves being reintroduced into national habitats, after almost becoming extinct.

Supposedly, there is a movie about O-Six, so I will definitely attempt to find and watch that. This story does pull you in to the emotional highs and lows of life in the animal kingdom.

Book 12 read in 2019

Pages: 320

Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National Review

 Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National Review
by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Pages:295
Rating:3 out of 5 stars

After having worked at a couple of small newspapers in mid-Missouri and having dealt with publication renewals for a couple of libraries on the other side of the phone line, this title intrigued me. Conservative writer and public figure, William F. Buckley Jr., kept a file of what he considered the most interesting letters to the editor from the National Review. As the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief he had access to all of these letters. Here is his collection of these letters often with his reply. Sometimes funny, sometimes biting and rarely politically correct, this is a brief window into the 1970s and 1980 news and politics. With letters from Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Auberon Waugh, John Kenneth Galbraith and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. 

Say You'll Remember Me

Say You'll Remember Me by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As far as I'm concerned, Katie McGarry can do no wrong. Everything she writes is emotional, with well-developed characters who change and grow, and her pacing is always spot on. It's very difficult for me not to read her books straight through, no matter how long they are.

She understands people, and especially teenagers, and what makes them tick, and she doesn't stray away from writing difficult and complex characters.

Plus swoon! She's a romance goddess.

Book 47 read in 2018

Pages; 400

Extraordinary Black Missourians: Pioneers, Leaders, Performers, Athletes, and Other Notables Who've Made History by John A. Wright, Sr. and Sylvia Wright

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Missouri TV personalities such as Julius Hunter, news anchor, journalist, and author, musicians W.C. Handy and Count Basie, and politician Freeman Bosley, Jr. are some of the black Missourians who are in this wonderful book.  240 pages.

Absolute Power by David Baldacci

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

A burglar is forced to hide in a safe in the house he is robbing.  Looking through a one way mirror, he sees a murder being committed by the President of the United States.

Audio: about 7 hrs.   

Print:  704 pages

Cut and Thrust by Stuart Woods

Posted for Paul Mathews

The office of President of the United States is being fought for with lots of deals and promises.  Stone must help and work hard to help the right person win.

Audio:  6 hrs. 5 min.
Print:  320 pages

"Always" by Kindle Alexander

Get your hankies ready for this tear-jerker about the nearly 40 year relationship between Avery Adams, the grandson of a U.S. president, and Kane Dalton, a successful chef from the south.  They meet in 1975 in Minneapolis where Kane has a famous restaurant and Avery has just returned to his home state to contemplate a run for the Senate.  The story covers some of the important milestones in their lives together and really pulls at the reader's emotions, especially at the beginning and end.  Although a bit long, it was easy to read and to root for these men to find happiness.  287 pages (Kindle edition).

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

Summary: "In the crosshairs of a political bribery investigation, Dempsey Jo Killebrew suddenly finds herself unemployed and the victim of a sleazy smear campaign by her former boss. Dempsey decides to take up her father's offer of flipping a recently inherited family home in Guthrie, Ga., where she quickly slides into the renovation groove, fits in with the locals, and embarks on a romance."

I initially thought I would enjoy this book because I love politics & renovation stories, but I actually kind of hated it. I was quite disappointed in the story development and the dullness of the characters. The story was hard to believe and the characters were not easy to relate to or root for. I would not recommend it.

422 pages

Along Came Trouble by Sherryl Woods

(Posted for Diann Stark)

Tucker Spencer, the sheriff of Trinity Harbor, Virginia, helps childhood sweetheart Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Chandler, whom he still loves, solve the mystery of her millionaire husband's murder. While Liz tries to win back the approval of Tucker's family, Tucker conducts a politically charged investigation. 

400 pages.  Audio 9 hours and 9 minutes.

The 500 by Matthew Quirk

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

He was a con man, and decades of blackmail extortion is what he has to overcome.   And it took a career service to a power broker and lots of luck.

Audio:  12 hrs. 34 min.

Print:  336 pages.

Palace Council by Stephen L. Carter

A political thriller set in the context of 1952 through the 1970s.  The 'Palace Council' is a group of prominent men, black and white, begun in 1952, to manipulate the presidency of the U.S.  Soon after, the body of one of the men is found, murdered, by Eddie Wesley, a rising black writer in Harlem.  When Eddie's younger sister disappears, Eddie begins a 20 year search to find her, complicated by the news she is heading a radical extremist group.  Eddie also involves the woman he loves, Aurelia, who has married into a prominent family, but whose husband is also a member of the Council.  Lots of plot twists and dead ends are enhanced by Carter's ability to deftly depict the character of those times.
510 pages.

Drift by Rachel Maddow

If you watch the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC, you know that she has a penchant for sharp-witted humor.  In Drift, Maddow applies her skills for in-depth research to the story of the growth of presidential power and the U.S. military from the end of WWII to current day.  Her main premise is that over time, Congress and our presidents have allowed a drift from strong Congressional oversight of the use of our military forces, to our current state where we are perpetually at war, and this condition seems normal.  She describes very clearly but with a good dose of her sometimes sarcastic wit how successive presidents have skirted Congressional review of use of the military, the outsourcing of support of the military mission and what she sees as the detrimental effects of an overly large military infrastructure.  The text reads like an expanded script from one of her shows; she tries to take the reader into the scene of each of the decisions on which she bases her argument.   Overall, a thought provoking discourse on the past 60 years of American history.  She concludes with a list of eight ways in which we can bring use of the military back under greater restraint. 252 pages

Aftershock: The next economy and America's Future by Robert Reich

You've heard or read much of this theory before - how the recession was partly caused by the middle class running out of buying power, going too far into debt, and then having little resource when the tipping point of bad debts and too much leveraging hit. Reich puts his analysis into that context, and compares current conditions to past periods in America's history. He goes one step further to forecast more pending political upheaval as people become more outraged by their declining standard of living, but expresses hope we would be able to address the income disparities at the heart of the problem before that happens. This book was published in April, before the debt ceiling circus, but after the Republican takeover over of the House. Reich also proposes some interesting solutions to evening out the wealth disparity in the country, to get it back to where the economy can grow. A quick read, but definitely with a Democratic, populist viewpoint. 192 p.

Third World America, by Arianna Huffington

If you're a reader of The Huffington Post, you're well acquainted with Arianna's viewpoint. Here she chronicles the stagnation and decline of income of the middle class. As the middle class declines and there is greater distance between the wealthy and the rest of us, there is also risk that America's infrastructure - roads, schools, bridges, water lines - will fall into such disrepair that many of us will be living in our own 'third world America.' Good food for thought as we move into another election cycle. 240 pp.