Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War

Deer Hunting with Jesus covers some of the same ground as Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America but avoids any hint of smugness about “those people.” That’s because “those people,” the red-state rednecks, are Bageant’s people: the people who do most of the working and taxpaying in this country, while getting screwed by their elected leaders. If you don’t understand why someone would buy a trailer—excuse me, “manufactured home”—or why someone working at Wal-Mart would vote against a candidate who promised universal health care, read this book. Meet the folks who’ve got work burned into their genetic code even if they can’t make a decent living in this economy. Then find out why they don’t trust anybody whose idea of exercise is climbing a rock.