Synopses & Reviews
""In this wonderfully insightful book, Joan Walsh shows how America built a large and vibrant (although mostly white) middle class that fueled the greatest economic boom in history and made a reality of the American dream. Hers is the story of postwar America told through a working class New York Irish Catholic family whose political divisions mirrored the nation's. Moving and powerful, her account will help people of all races think through how we can build a just and prosperous multiracial America."" —Robert B. Reich
""A brilliant and illuminating book about America since the upheavals of the '60s and '70s. What's the Matter with White People? is about the heart and soul of America, from our Founding Fathers to Hillary and Barack.It's about our middle class, which so recently flourished, and how it has been injured and diminished almost beyond repair by greed and racist fear-mongering. It's about America's greatness and delusion, the betrayal of the working class, and the fragmentation of the Democratic party. It's about how Walsh's own Irish Catholic family from New York was treated, responded and fared in the years between Richard Nixon and Barack Obama Walsh writes with passion, precision, and insight into how racism has made such a bold public comeback. Her book was heaven for a political junkie like me, somehow managing to be painful and exhilarating at the same time."" —Anne Lamott
""Joan Walsh's reflections and observations from her personal journey as an Irish Catholic daughter of a Northeastern blue collar family provide a unique window into the hearts, aspirations, anguish, anger, fears, and pride of white working class voters during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. No one can properly understand current class politics and race relations in America unless they've read this book."" —Dr. Clarence B. Jones
The size and stability of the American middle class were once the envy of the world. But changes unleashed in the 1960s pitted Americans against one another politically in new and destructive ways. These battles continued to rage from that day to now, while everyone has fallen behind economically except the wealthy. Right-wing culture warriors blamed the decline on the moral shortcomings of ""other"" Americans—black people, feminists, gays, immigrants, union members—to court a fearful white working- and middle-class base with ever more bitter ""us vs. them"" politics. Liberals tried, but mostly failed, to make the case that we're all in this together.
In What's the Matter with White People?, popular Salon columnist Joan Walsh argues that the biggest divide in America today is not about party or ideology, but about two competing narratives for why everything has fallen apart since the 1970s. One side sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country providing benefits and advantages to the underachieving, the immoral, and the undeserving, no matter the cost to Middle America. The other sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country providing benefits and advantages to the very rich, while allowing a measure of cultural progress for the different and the downtrodden. It matters which side is right, and how the other side got things so wrong.
Walsh connects the dots of American decline through trends that began in the 1970s and continue today—including the demise of unions, the stagnation of middle-class wages, the extension of the right's ""Southern Strategy"" throughout the country, the victory of Reagan Republicanism, the increase in income inequality, and the drop in economic mobility.
Citing her extended family as a case in point, Walsh shows how liberals unwittingly collaborated in the ""us vs. them"" narrative, rather than developing an inspiring, persuasive vision of a more fair, united America. She also explores how the GOP's renewed culture war
Review
* ""...thrilling and moving family and political memoir that will help those who read it decipher the political spectacle that will unfold over the next two months."" (The San Francisco Chronicle, August 2012)
Review
"...thrilling and moving family and political memoir that will help those who read it decipher the political spectacle that will unfold over the next two months." (The San Francisco Chronicle, August 2012)
Synopsis
How scapegoat politics is dividing America and bankrupting the middle classThe size and stability of the American middle class was once the envy of the world. But changes unleashed in the 1960s pitted Americans against one another politically in new and destructive wayswhile economically, everyone fell behind except the wealthy.
Right-wing culture warriors blamed the decline on the moral shortcomings of "other" Americansblacks, feminists, gays, immigrants, union members to court a fearful white working and middle class base with ever more bitter "us" vs. "them" politics. Liberals tried but mostly failed to make the case that we're all in this together. In All for None and None for All, MSNBC political analyst and popular Salon columnist Joan Walsh traces this deeply disturbing dynamic as it has played out over the last forty years, dividing the country, poisoning its politics, jeopardizing its futureand splitting her working class Irish Catholic family as well.
- Connects the dots of American decline through trends that began in the 1970s and continue todayincluding the demise of unions, the stagnation of middle class wages, the extension of the right's "Southern Strategy" throughout the country, the victory of Reagan Republicanism, the widening partisan divide, the increase in income inequality, and the drop in economic mobility.
- Shows how liberals unwittingly collaborated in the "us" vs. "them" narrative and failed to develop an inspiring, persuasive vision of a more fair, united America
- Explores how the GOP's renewed culture warone which could conceivably make Rick Santorum president, and produced radical changes in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, and Virginianow scapegoats even segments of its base, as it blames the troubles of working class whites on their own moral failings rather than an unfair economy
As the United States becomes a "majority-minority" culture, while the GOP doubles down on racial and cultural appeals to rev up its demographically threatened white base in 2012, Walsh talks about race in honest, unflinching, unfamiliar terms, acknowledging not just Republican but Democratic Party political mistakesand her own. This book will be essential reading as the country struggles through political polarization and racial change to invent the next America in the years to come.
Synopsis
The size and stability of the American middle class were once the envy of the world. But changes unleashed in the 1960s pitted Americans against one another politically in new and destructive ways. These battles continued to rage from that day to now, while everyone has fallen behind economically except the wealthy. Right-wing culture warriors blamed the decline on the moral shortcomings of "other" Americansblack people, feminists, gays, immigrants, union membersto court a fearful white working- and middle-class base with ever more bitter "us vs. them" politics. Liberals tried, but mostly failed, to make the case that we're all in this together.
In What's the Matter with White People?, popular Salon columnist Joan Walsh argues that the biggest divide in America today is not about party or ideology, but about two competing narratives for why everything has fallen apart since the 1970s. One side sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country providing benefits and advantages to the underachieving, the immoral, and the undeserving, no matter the cost to Middle America. The other sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country providing benefits and advantages to the very rich, while allowing a measure of cultural progress for the different and the downtrodden. It matters which side is right, and how the other side got things so wrong.
Walsh connects the dots of American decline through trends that began in the 1970s and continue todayincluding the demise of unions, the stagnation of middle-class wages, the extension of the right's "Southern Strategy" throughout the country, the victory of Reagan Republicanism, the increase in income inequality, and the drop in economic mobility.
Citing her extended family as a case in point, Walsh shows how liberals unwittingly collaborated in the "us vs. them" narrative, rather than developing an inspiring, persuasive vision of a more fair, united America. She also explores how the GOP's renewed culture war now scapegoats even segments of its white base, as it blames the troubles of working-class whites on their own moral failings rather than on an unfair economy.
What's the Matter with White People? is essential reading as the country struggles through political polarization and racial change to invent the next America in the years to come.
Synopsis
One of America's most popular online columnists asks "Which came first: the class war or the culture war?""In this wonderfully insightful book, Joan Walsh shows how America built a large and vibrant (although mostly white) middle class that fueled the greatest economic boom in history and made a reality of the American dream. Hers is the story of postwar America told through a working class New York Irish Catholic family whose political divisions mirrored the nation's. Moving and powerful, her account will help people of all races think through how we can build a just and prosperous multiracial America."
—Robert B. Reich
"A brilliant and illuminating book about America since the upheavals of the '60s and '70s. What's the Matter with White People? is about the heart and soul of America, from our Founding Fathers to Hillary and Barack.It's about our middle class, which so recently flourished, and how it has been injured and diminished almost beyond repair by greed and racist fear-mongering. It's about America's greatness and delusion, the betrayal of the working class, and the fragmentation of the Democratic party. It's about how Walsh's own Irish Catholic family from New York was treated, responded and fared in the years between Richard Nixon and Barack Obama Walsh writes with passion, precision, and insight into how racism has made such a bold public comeback. Her book was heaven for a political junkie like me, somehow managing to be painful and exhilarating at the same time."
—Anne Lamott
"Joan Walsh's reflections and observations from her personal journey as an Irish Catholic daughter of a Northeastern blue collar family provide a unique window into the hearts, aspirations, anguish, anger, fears, and pride of white working class voters during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. No one can properly understand current class politics and race relations in America unless they've read this book."
—Dr. Clarence B. Jones
Synopsis
Joan Walsh, one of America's most popular online columnists, looks back over the past forty years in American politics and culture, showing how the white working class has stagnated, and the stability of the middle class has disintegrate. Weaving into the book her own family's story, she describes how too many Americans think they made it on their own, and resent those receiving help today. Read this book to find out how Democrats and Republicans clash over this issue, and the devastating impact on personal lives and the society at large.
About the Author
JOAN WALSH is editor at large of Salon and an MSNBC political analyst. She spent six years as Salon's editor in chief.
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Part I Fact-Checking a Fractured Irish Fairy Tale 15
Part II Growing Up in Nixonland 61
Part III The Loneliness of the Reagan-Era Do-Gooder 117
Part IV Some of My Best Presidents Are Black 177
Part V What’s the Matter with White People? 235
Acknowledgments 255
Index 261