by Jeff Sharlet
First published 2023
Jeff Sharlet sets out across America to map the religious and political forces tearing the country apart. He visits hipster megachurches where pastors glorify materialism while preparing congregants for civil war. He attends political rallies that pulse with the fervor of religious revivals. At an incel conference, he watches lonely men unite in rage against women. Throughout these journeys, Sharlet documents how reaction has become delusion, how social division has hardened into paranoia, and how hatred has spawned violent fantasies that sometimes turn real. He observes the Far Right's transformation of the forty-fifth president into a saint-like figure and the martyrdom of Ashli Babbitt after January 6. Against this geography of grief and rising fascism, Sharlet also seeks out voices singing different songs of community and justice. His investigation becomes both inquiry and meditation on a decade of American failures and the possibility of an America dedicated to freedom for all.
Genres: american, political-science, social-issues, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, social-commentary
Setting: America
Period: 2010s
341 pages · Kindle Edition · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: violence