In America: Tales from Trump Country

by Caitriona Perry

As RTÉ's Washington correspondent, Caitríona Perry has earned a reputation as a reliable source of truth as the world tries to make sense of the maelstrom of shocking headlines emanating from Donald Trump's America. In her first book, she goes beyond the news reports and delves into the American heartland where she witnessed his rise at first hand, while others were blindsided by his victory.Bringing to the table the voices of those who voted for President Trump, the ones whose opinions didn't coalesce with acceptable mainstream discourse – Hillary Clinton's so-called 'basket of deplorables' – Caitríona Perry reveals just what is really happening in America right nowThis is the story of the American people who were angry and disillusioned by traditional politics. It is the story of the workers of the industrial heartland, of the women of America, of immigrant communities, of the people who viewed a wealthy businessman from the city of New York as 'one of us'. This is the story of the people who shook the world.'Spellbindingly good. Journeying across America, Caitríona Perry masterfully takes us into the hearts and minds of those who voted for Donald Trump. A triumph of a book.' Prof. Gary Murphy, Head of the School of Law and Government, DCU'From the Mexico border to the Oval Office, Caitríona Perry brings us to the coalface of one of the most tempestuous and extraordinary opening periods of any presidency in modern memory.' Ryan Tubridy'In my visits to Ireland since the 2016 election, the most frequent question I get is "How could that happen?" Caitríona Perry answers it honestly and candidly as only someone who takes the time to understand could.' Cody Keenan, Chief Speechwriter to President Barack Obama'Bringing us vivid voices from Trump country, and exploring the emotional landscape in which his campaign took root, this book deepens our understanding of the Trump phenomenon.' Anne Anderson, Former Irish Ambassador to the US.'The hopes, contradictions and beliefs of Trump voters brilliantly told – a necessary and insightful book!' Joe Duffy'This entertaining and insightful travelogue, through its attention to detail of both place and people, lays bare both the death and residual power of the American Dream.' Prof. Liam Kennedy, Clinton Institute for American Studies, UCD'A genuinely fascinating chance to meet the most and least likely Trump voters and find out why his election was ultimately bound to happen.' Rick O'Shea

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2017

About the author

Caitríona Perry is an award-winning Irish journalist. She's worked as a broadcast news correspondent since 2000 and is currently Washington Correspondent for Ireland's national public service broadcaster, RTÉ, where she works across television, radio and digital platforms. She has significant editorial experience and has previously worked as a news anchor, presenter, documentary maker, producer, and programme editor. She has won awards for her television and radio reportage, including most recently a National Justice Media Merit Award for TV News in June 2015.

She has an Undergraduate Degree in Journalism (2002) and a Masters Degree in International Relations (2010), both awarded by Dublin City University, which recently named her as one of the University's distinguished alumni. In addition to her home country of Ireland, Caitriona has reported on news stories across the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Australia.

Her first book, 'In America: Tales from Trump Country' was published by Gill Books on October 27th 2017.

From January 2018, Caitríona will be the new co-presenter of the RTE SixOne News, anchoring the evening news Monday to Friday with Keelin Shanley, the first time the national broadcaster will have an all-female evening news anchor team.


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Reviews

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent insight into the thoughts of voters who sided with Trump. While you may not agree with what they say, Perry gives them a voice without any partisan editorializing. An important contribution in an ever-more polarized society where fewer and fewer voices that have not passed confirmation-bias filters are allowed into out bubbles.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the objective of breaking down the 2016 American presidential result for Irish readers, I feel that the author did a credible job. Not to say that she didn't get sidetracked in some places so that the book overall was a bit uneven. In terms of her Afterward (epilogue), and attempts at a possible scenario for the next election she may have someone underplayed the amount of buyer's remorse from Trump voters.

[John Kaufmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book, well-written book - if you can stomach the subject. The book does its job of providing a glimpse as to why voters, particularly the white working class, voted for Trump. I can understand the disenchantment with the system, the alienation, the anger - I agree with the diagnosis of what's wrong. However, I couldn't help but come away from this book feeling that these people are idiots. While I'd like to think there's some common ground on which we can bridge our political divide, it's hard to see how one can do so with these people.

Examples are: Trump raised great kids (huh?), so he can't be all bad - they'd trust him to be a good leader. Who cares that Trump doesn't need to release his tax returns, because we're all overtaxed anyway; besides, he was smart enough to use the loopholes available to him, just like we all would like to do. Trump is a defender of the Constitution. Trump's sexism was dismissed because women throw themselves after wealthy men, and he was just being a man (these comments came from women!). Women have no right being president; they should be at home taking care of their husband and family (another woman). Trump's a straight talker, unfiltered, who doesn't worry about political correctness. He saw the light on abortion, so he must be a good Christian. Hillary was going to drive trucks down the street and confiscate people's guns. One person wrote three letters to Obama and never got a reply, while Trump hears the concerns of the working class.

So if you can stomach that, it's a good-enough read. The author did her homework, and the book is well-written and easy and interesting to read. Just keep your barf-bag handy.

[Remi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The year is 2022, thus it may seem anachronistic to read a book about the mystery as to why Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Notwithstanding, it is still an instructive read and the author succeeds in doing what a reporter is supposed to do: She judges reports what people think. Unfortunately, it is not to be taken granted any more that journalists are genuinely interested in people different from themselves and try to understand them better, being aware of prejudices at the same time. Illuminating (and depressing) insights!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and insightful look into why American's voted for Trump and a most read for anyone who wants to understand what happened. I don't get the people who voted for him and continue to think he is good for them but in order to learn from it you need to understand the motivations of people and this book gives a great insight into this. Highly recommend

[Spring · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was around 3.5 for me, but I'm rounding down. It was informative and interesting enough for the subject matter, but many of the subject transitions were too jarring, and there wasn't a good guiding thread for the reader to follow.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

58% of women didn't vote for him.
92% of black people didn't vote for him.
71% of hispanic people didn't vote for him.
42% of white people didn't vote for him.
55% of those who were college educated didn't vote for him.

So who did?

RTE journalist/reporter Caitríona Perry travelled to different US states in 2016/2017, focusing heavily on the Appalachian region, in order to find out what kind of people were voting for Donald Trump and why. It was much the same story in every state - people wanted change, people didn't trust the establishment, people wanted economic recovery, they wanted to be heard, they wanted tighter immigration control, and they didn't trust Hillary Clinton. They believed that they, too, could be like Donald Trump - an everyman who still talked in a crass way but was good at building businesses. They all wanted The American Dream.

As a result, reading yet another account of a person from a town that had gone through economic collapse grew tiresome. There's nothing we didn't know already in here, and it's presented in a factual way without any real personal input from the author. As a result it wasn't as insightful as it could have been.

One thing that alarmed me was the willingness to accept Trump as a viable Presidential candidate regardless of how he spoke about women - especially from the older community in Florida. Michelle Obama sums that acceptance up best in her book:

"The standards of decency were simply lowered in order to make room for the candidate's voice."

The only other real thing that piqued my interest was the way elections are ran - I found it interesting to read about the 538 voters of the Electoral College that actually determine the result.

[Mark Gannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book and well worth the read. It explains the reasoning behind why people voted for Trump. A previous reviewer noted that many of the people interviewed were not challenged on their beliefs. But to me, that is a point in the books favor. Caitriona presents the Trumps supporters views. She listens to them. She presents them to the world. One thing that struck me was that many of the people interviewed felt that they were not listened to by anyone in authority, and Caitriona Perry offered that ear. She acted impartially. Well worth the money spent.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic raw insight, Little criticality

I chose this book for a course on the current moment in American politics in order to examine psychological motivations for voting for Trump. Lengthy passages from voters in selected swing counties/states were informative, and where Perry made linkages (especially with Irish politics/culture) I was very interested. Unfortunately, there was little of her own analysis that I wished I could have read more of. She also almost completely ignores the issue of race in the book, beyond naming a few basic statistics, which left me feeling like a large hole was left in an otherwise far-ranging investigation.

[Angelique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably should have been called something like 'Why Trump Won', but tales from America was ultimately what it was. Perry uses her experience to explain why Trump won by talking to the people. While it doesn't have a list of references, it seems pretty on board. It was extremely hard for me to read, as it made me very angry, but it felt important to try to understand why he won. It was written well and easy to read (despite rage). And while it made me angry, I enjoyed a few laughs (there's coal in them there mountains and the coal museum being solar powered) and genuinely enjoyed reading it.

[Ian Parke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this book I could not quite understand why anyone would vote for Trump. Having read the book I almost come to the conclusion why anybody would not vote for Trump. The book gives a glimpse sometimes an in depth glimpse into why Trump was elected. Along the way we meet many Americans who feel let down by current and recent administrations and feel that no one other than Trump is listening to them and is prepared to act on their behalf. What is surprising is that Clinton very rally gets mentioned in the book, but when she does it is not favourable. Hail to the chief

[Aoife · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out and I was hooked as it went through all the credible reasons why Trump had been elected. 7 years on with this re-read I can only hope that lessons have been learned and someone of his ilk won’t be elected as president again. Interesting to hear from the forgotten voices of the middle US and how they just want a better life for future generations than they had.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly amazing book, a real eye opener. It's easy to label Trump supporters as one group but this book highlights the nuances within his supporters. It also shows the side of America that most of us wouldn't see. Didn't change my opinion on Trump at all but I feel I can understand the motivations behind those who voted for him. A scary but important read.

[Séamas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ní raibh am ar bith agam don trumpaire sular léigh mé an leabhar seo, agus níl am ar bith agam dó anois; ach b´fhéidir go bhfuil léargas níos fearr agam ar cén fáth ar vótáil daoine don phleidhce seo.
Locht mór amháin ar an leabhar: níor scríobh Caitríona Perry ach cúpla líne faoi na líomhaintí faoin dóigh ar imir na Rúisigh tionchar ar an toghchán.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting insight into the forces, ideas and opinions that shaped the 2016 election. It was intriguing to hear from everyday ordinary people on why they voted for Trump, however their views were never challenged and as such the book became a little repetitive.

[David Heyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a dissapointing read. I had hoped to read some analysis and more background about the Trump constituents. However, this was just a couple of chapters with extended interviews with people who were only talking and voting from the belly. This could have been so much better.

[Sean S · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick, light, often times superficial read which glossed over the pro-Trump talking points through anecdotal evidence.

[Niamh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insightful, but hard to get through.

[Mariya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sarah Meacle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative

[Michael O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting narrative through America's heartland

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insights on the actual electoral system were enlightening. The rest of the stuff has not aged well.

[Killian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, that could have been even better if she decided to delve that bit deeper.

[Drasko Kovrlija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great account of how Trump won the election and why it surprised so many. Whether you love or despise Trump, this was a well written journalistic narrative.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this would just be a collection of rants, but this book showed that many Trump supporters are humans who weren't driven by racism or xenophobia, but who were just poor and desperately hoping something better could come along to help them succeed in America. Good read overall.