The spokesman for redneck America is back - and this time it's personal.
Joe Bageant Books
Joe Bageant's writing delves into the heart of countercultural movements, spiritual seeking, and life on the American fringe. His perspective, shaped by Marxist and Buddhist influences, offers a profound exploration of social issues and the human condition. Drawing from a life lived in communes, on reservations, and on the road, his work provides a distinctive and authentic lens through which to view American society. Readers will appreciate his sharp observations and unique narrative voice.
The book critiques the state of American society, suggesting that many citizens exhibit irrational behavior while being influenced by a group of flawed leaders, primarily from religious and political backgrounds. It explores themes of madness, leadership, and societal dysfunction, offering a provocative commentary on contemporary issues in the United States.
Deer Hunting with Jesus
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Years before Hillbilly Elegy and White Trash, a raucous, truth-telling look at the white working poor -- and why they have learned to hate liberalism. What it adds up to, he asserts, is an unacknowledged class war. By turns tender, incendiary, and seriously funny, this book is a call to arms for fellow progressives with little real understanding of "the great beery, NASCAR-loving, church-going, gun-owning America that has never set foot in a Starbucks." Deer Hunting with Jesus is Joe Bageant’s report on what he learned when he moved back to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia. Like countless American small towns, it is fast becoming the bedrock of a permanent underclass. Two in five of the people in his old neighborhood do not have high school diplomas or health care. Alcohol, overeating, and Jesus are the preferred avenues of escape. He writes of: • His childhood friends who work at factory jobs that are constantly on the verge of being outsourced • The mortgage and credit card rackets that saddle the working poor with debt • The ubiquitous gun culture—and why the left doesn’ t get it • Scots Irish culture and how it played out in the young life of Lynddie England
In dieser Sammlung essayistischer Reportagen konfrontiert Joe Bageant auf erschütternde und humorvolle Weise den Alltag des amerikanischen Proletariats. Ausgehend von seinem Geburtsort Winchester, Virginia, führt der Autor uns in Arbeiterkneipen, Fabriken, fundamentalistische Kirchen und Militärgefängnisse im Irak. Dabei lässt er Menschen zu Wort kommen, die laut der Medienideologie der klassenlosen Gesellschaft nicht existieren dürften: Dottie, die zuckerkranke Karaoke-Sängerin; Tom Henderson, Vorarbeiter bei Rubbermaid; Lynndie England, Hühner-Schlacht-Gehilfin; und Ruth McCauley, die verarmte Witwe eines Truckers. Diese Protagonisten äußern sich direkt und unverblümt, ganz im Stil von Bageants bekannter Sprachgewalt und Ironie. Die Reportagen bieten ein informatives Porträt des amerikanischen Lebensgefühls in der Bush-Ära und eine gnadenlose Abrechnung mit der Arroganz, die Amerikas links-liberale Eliten gegenüber 'einfachen Leuten' zeigen. Bageant verdeutlicht seine tiefgreifenden Analysen der in den Fiktionen des 'amerikanischen Hologramms' gefangenen Gesellschaft durch bewegende Einzelschicksale und ermöglicht so ein neues Verständnis der amerikanischen Seele.