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The cover of Strangers in Their Own Land

Strangers in Their Own Land

Arlie Russell Hochschild, 2016

Travel into Louisiana's Tea Party country, where heavy pollution meets deep distrust of government, and hear the deep story behind the anger on the American right.

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17 parts, about 31 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Builds a deep story, a felt account of waiting in line for the American Dream, that explains how the Tea Party right sees the world
  • Follows the paradox of a polluted, poor state resisting regulation through years of interviews with Tea Party supporters around Lake Charles
  • Sorts the endurance self into Team Loyalist, Worshipper and Cowboy, and shows how history, class and race shape feelings about government

Who it is for

  • Liberals trying to understand the American right
  • Readers puzzled by voters who resist the government help they use
  • Politics readers curious how emotion drives belief

What the summary covers

  1. Preface2 min
  2. Traveling to the Heart3 min
  3. “One Thing Good”2 min
  4. The Rememberers1 min
  5. The Candidates1 min
  6. The “Least Resistant Personality”1 min
  7. Industry: The Buckle in America's Energy Belt3 min
  8. The State: Governing the Market 4,000 Feet Below3 min
  9. The Pulpit and the Press: The Topic Doesn't Come Up2 min
  10. The Deep Story3 min
  11. The Team Player: Loyalty Above All2 min
  12. The Worshipper: Invisible Renunciation2 min
  13. The Cowboy: Stoicism1 min
  14. The Rebel: A Team Loyalist with a New Cause1 min
  15. The Fires of History: The 1860s and the 1960s1 min
  16. Strangers No Longer: The Power of Promise1 min
  17. "They Say There Are Beautiful Trees"2 min

Recommended by

  • Jason DeParleReporter at The New York Times
    This is a smart, respectful and compelling book.
  • David BrooksColumnist at The New York Times
  • Atul GawandeSurgeon and writer

About the author

  • Arlie Russell HochschildAmerican professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and writer
    • Born in Boston, the daughter of a diplomat who served in Israel, New Zealand, Ghana and Tunisia
    • Graduated from Swarthmore College in 1962, majoring in International Relations
    • Earned her MA in 1965 and PhD in 1969 at the University of California, Berkeley, and joined its faculty after teaching at Santa Cruz from 1969 to 1971
    • With her husband Adam she was a civil rights worker in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1964
    • Her work has long centred on the human emotions that underlie moral beliefs, practices and social life
    • In The Second Shift she argued that the family was stuck in a stalled revolution
    • This book rests on five years of ethnographic research among Tea Party supporters in Louisiana
    • Professor emerita of sociology at Berkeley, living in Berkeley with her husband, the writer Adam Hochschild

Read it alongside

  • Puts it into practiceOutclassed

    Arlie Russell Hochschild argues that people can know political opponents from the inside without changing their beliefs; Joan C. Williams sets out steps for listening and validating loss without validating prejudice.

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