Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America

by John Sperling, Suzanne Wiggans Helburn, Samuel George

This book reframes the "red state"/"blue state" debate as "retro America" -- the South, the Plains states, the Mountain West, and Appalachia -- vs. "metro America," composed of the populous states on both coasts and the Great Lakes states. The authors -- three of them economists -- detail how the Republicans pander to the fears of retro America's fundamentalist Christians while frantically outsourcing jobs, shredding the social safety net, and subsizing corporate interests at the expense of the lives of average citizens. The book then shows Democrats how to take back the country by focusing entirely on the metro states -- their natural base, which also happens to account for 65 percent of the population. Once a strong base is built, the authors argue, the Democrats can work on unifying America as a whole. A wealth of color photos, political cartoons, maps, charts, and graphs make this important book an accessible, lively read.

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004