Strangers in Their Own Land - by Arlie Russell Hochschild

About the Book

Sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country--a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets--among them a Tea Party activist whose town has been swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a drilling accident--people whose concerns are actually ones that all Americans share: the desire for community, the embrace of family, and hopes for their children.

Book Synopsis

The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump

"A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book."
-Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review

When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others.

The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.

Review Quotes

Praise for Strangers in Their Own Land:
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR NONFICTION
NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEWSDAY TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR
A KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

One of "6 Books to Understand Trump's Win" according to the New York Times the day after the election

"[A] smart, respectful and compelling book."
-Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review

"[Hochschild's] analysis is overdue at a time when questions of policy and legislation and even fact have all but vanished from the public discourse."
-Nathaniel Rich, The New York Review of Books

"Hochschild moves beyond the truism that less affluent voters who support small government and tax cuts are voting against their own economic interest."
-O Magazine

"By far the best book by an outsider to the Tea Party I have ever encountered . . . a wonderful contribution to the national discourse.
-Forbes

"An entry pass to an alternative worldview, and with it a route map towards empathy."
-The Economist

"Remarkable. . . . Hochschild gives a rich and vivid picture of the emotional and social life . . . in the American South."
-Sean McCann, The Los Angeles Review of Books

"Hochschild comes to know people-and her own nation-better than they know themselves"
-Heather Mallick, The Toronto Star

"Up close there is a depth to the concerns of Hochschild's subjects . . . They are concerned about pollution, and about the social decay that we see most vividly in the opioid epidemic. They are aware . . . of facts on the ground."
-Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker

"Strangers in Their Own Land is extraordinary for its consistent empathy and the attention it pays to the emotional terrain of politics. It is billed as a book for this moment, but it will endure."
-Gabriel Thompson, Newsday

[Hochschild's] connection and kindness to the people she meets is what makes this book so powerful.
-Marion Winik, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives . . . [She] conveys that she genuinely likes the people she meets, communicating their dignity and values . . . . These attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochschild's Strangers in Their Own Land and a new elite."
-Jedediah Purdy, The New Republic

"The importance of emotion in politics, not just facts and figures, [Hochschild] writes convincingly, is critical to understand...a point politicians of all stripes would be smart to remember."
-Felice Belman, The Boston Globe

"Hochschild has gone about her investigation diligently and with an appealing humility."
-Karen Olsson, Bookforum

"An important contribution to the understanding of our times... Strangers in Their Own Land describes in vivid detail a world that is often ignored or caricatured by the media and by many liberals."
-The Nation

"[Hochschild's] deeply humble approach is refreshing and strengthens her research . . . . She skillfully invites liberal readers into the lives of Americans whose views they may have never seriously considered. After evaluating her conclusions and meeting her informants in these pages, it's hard to disagree that empathy is the best solution to stymied political and social discourse."
-Publishers Weekly

"A well-tol

About the Author

Arlie Russell Hochschild is one of the most influential sociologists of her generation. She is the author of nine books, including The Second Shift, The Time Bind, The Managed Heart, and The Outsourced Self. Three of her books have been named as New York Times Notable Books of the Year and her work appears in sixteen languages. The winner of the Ulysses Medal as well as Guggenheim and Mellon grants, she lives in Berkeley, California