The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country

by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett

How small-town America’s surprising success reshapes our understanding of the nation’s urban-rural divide, offering “the most balanced and broadest-ranging look at the topic” (Tyler Cowen, George Mason University).
 
The Next Big Idea Club 2023 Must Read Book

We are frequently told rural America is in crisis. According to many journalists, academics, and politicians, our small towns have been hollowed out by lost jobs, and residents have turned to opioids and right-wing extremism to cope with their pain and resentment. In fact, many rural towns are thriving. Commentators have fixated on the steep decline of one region—Appalachia—and overlooked the millions of rural Americans who are succeeding in the heartland.
 
In The Overlooked American s, public policy expert Elizabeth Currid-Halkett reveals that rural America has not been left behind the rest of the nation but instead is surprisingly successful. Drawing on deep research, including data and in-depth interviews, she traces how small towns are doing as well as, or better than, cities by many measures, including homeownership, income, and employment. She also shows how rural and urban Americans share core values, from opposing racism and upholding environmentalism to believing in democracy. Looking everywhere from Missouri to Minnesota to her hometown of Danville, Pennsylvania, Currid-Halkett ultimately reveals that the nation is less fractured by geography than many believe.
 
This is an urgent appeal for Americans to reconnect across a rural-urban divide that isn’t so wide after all.

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Sociology, Economics, Research

416 pages, Hardcover

Published June 6, 2023

Reviews

[Mary Phelan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the most biased books I have ever read. The author is a self-proclaimed “highly educated” person living in a big city on the West Coast, who conducted Zoom interviews with rural Americans to base her biased conclusions on top of layered, deep-seated assumptions.

Here is one quote from page 154: “We need to treat rural Americans as fellow human beings, worthy of dignity.” Huh? First of all, who is “we,” and why weren’t you already doing that? You just defined your audience. Continuing: “ Giving that grace to people so different from us isn’t always easy…” Hmm, sounds a little elitist to me!

You can decide if you want to part with $28 and a few hours you can’t regain by indulging in this read, but let me sum up my viewpoint: this book is an affront to rural Americans. It’s basically a story about an author trying to educate herself beyond her own firmly established implicit biases. She did not succeed.

[Annika Wills · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a 2.5 for me. I appreciated the premise of this book, imploring "coastal elites" to rethink their biases of rural America and treat rural Americans with more respect. By many statistical measures, rural and urban Americans are more similar than they are different.

However, as another review pointed out, why weren't you treating rural Americans with respect before? If respecting others is "groundbreaking research," I think it reveals just how out-of-touch this author and her elite peers really are. I found this author's tone to be incredibly patronizing and condescending as she "discovered" what I consider common sense. Urban readers with a pre-existing bias against rural folks will benefit as this book urges them to reassess; but rural readers—or any readers with rural friends or family, or respect for others—will not find anything they didn't already know.

From an academic perspective, I also found this book to be poorly organized and somewhat repetitive. I would love for her to have shared more interviews from her study and used it to better support her conclusions throughout the book. Instead, I got something closer to a personal memoire with some graphs thrown in, and virtue signaling on almost every page.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely fascinating look at the similarities and differences between rural and urban America, both through extensive, in-depth interviews and through a thorough analysis of statistical data. It is very comforting to know that this country isn't nearly as divided as the click-baitified media (of all political stripes) would have us believe. That most Americans in both milieus have similar concerns, and for the most part, aren't actually concerned much with politics. Surprisingly, rural American isn't doing nearly as poorly as perceived, and in fact have strengths that liberal, rich, educated. urbanized Americans lack. Recommended to me by my daughter, this isn't a book I would have picked out for myself, but am very happy I read.

[Scott Beddingfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound and enlightening; one of those books that might truly change your mind about a lot of things, most especially how we see each other. In actuality there may not be as great a cultural/political divide between us Americans as many (most notably the media) would have us think.

Using sound statistical data in conjunction with personal interviews with a cross section of Americans, the author finds more similarities than differences in opinions on the great political questions of our day. And she’s particularly well placed to explore these questions (grew up in a small town, attended prestigious universities, currently in faculty at UCLA).

Exploring the notions of Social Capital and Cultural Capital, who has it, how it’s defined and who defines it the author encourages us to listen more, become less judgmental and reclaim how our unique and very special democracy. It’s not a stretch to call Currid-Halkett a modern day Tocqueville.

This book has already changed the way I view others, particularly those I might have stereotyped in the past.

[Tony Crispin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So here's the thing: I liked the conclusions this book reached. I agree with the author that rural Americans have been underestimated economically, culturally, and socially by more liberal/urban Americans. I agree that people should look into demographics/individuals more than just headlines or thinking "I know everything there is to know about this group of people. Source: Someone already on my side of the political spectrum told me so". We as a country would go a long way to stop seeing the divide in this country as a stark division between left/right or urban/rural and more as rich/poor. Main idea: don't generalize people, don't demonize certain groups because they voted for X candidate. We're really not that different and assuming we are impossibly misaligned is very unproductive.
However! I don't like that a lot of the reasoning for these conclusions rest on, at best, a collection of interviews, and at worst, anecdotes. The author starts most chapters talking about one specific person she talked to and then went on to kind of be like "yeah because I liked this one Trump supporter, then xyz". I don't think the conclusions are wrong, I just wish she brought a little more data (not that none is provided. there are many charts and tables in the book). Last point of criticism is that the book has a bit of fluff/unnecessary details, but other than that I quite liked it.
I'd recommend this to anyone who thinks that rural Americans are just a bunch of racist, backwater hicks or whatever. Liberals kind of assume that to be the case, but it's really just not true.

[Joe M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that the author and I do not see eye-to-eye on politics. Despite coming from similar backgrounds and both having achieved higher education degrees, we shake out to be on opposite sides of the political aisle.

This book is not intended for people of my political view. This is meant to be shared in democratic, left-wing circles as an eye opening piece on how the other half lives. I think it does an okay job at that. However, there are many points with respect to vaccines, religion, and Trump, that the author is just way off base on. It may open the eyes to those political circles, but from how I see it, I find it inaccurate.

I would give this boom 2.5 stars, overall. It is a hard book to get through because of all the statistics and survey results. If you find yourself on the left side of the aisle, I would encourage you to give it a read and consider what the author is saying, even though I do think she’s off base on more than one occasion.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a weak book overall. The main weakness I saw is that its foundation is confirmation bias. I think the author looked for ways that rural towns are resilient and highlighted those to the detriment of ways they are not. I have no preconceived idea one way or the next if they are or aren't resilient but I would have preferred to see an in-depth discussion of the opioid epidemic or even their inability to keep their best and brightest. But the book instead focused on purely demographic data which could be interpreted one way or the other by another researcher.

It's a great premise that without being buried in data may have been great.

[Tamara]

"I'm not elitist, some of my best friends are Trump voters."

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is not uncommon for the media, politicians, entertainment, etc. to portray rural towns in the United States a certain way. That they are increasingly abandoned, hotbeds of conservatism and hate, incredibly poor and are seeing a continued decline. Forgotten, neglected, ignored, etc. Author Currid-Halkett seeks to examine these stereotypes and look at the people who actually live here. 'Hillbilly Elegy' this is not.

Currid-Halkett meant to go on a drive across the country to interview her subjects but with COVID interfering with that, she settles mostly for telephone conversations instead and reveals a wide-range of people. Sure, you can definitely bigotry, racism, conservative views. But you can also find diversity, a varied range of thoughts and perspectives, sometimes contradictory views, etc. Also backed by it are lots of stats and studies.

For me, this book was useful as a supplementary reference to the 'Hillbilly Elegy' that I mentioned. A well-known book, there was a TON of criticism on whether that was accurate or not, and if J.D. Vance actually knew what he was talking about, etc. There are some similar criticisms here--whether Currid-Halkett was trying too hard to make a point, whether she views her subjects a little too much like things to be observed like an experiment (which might have been inadvertently done since she wasn't necessarily seeing these people in person).

But overall, I thought it was worth a read. I will mention that the book is heavy: there are lots of statistics and study references as I mentioned, and about one-third of the book is a bibliography and notations. It would probably make for a good supplement to read in addition to 'Hillbilly' and it would not surprise me to see either/both of these books on a college syllabus.

Borrowed this from the library and that was best for me. If you have an interest in the rural parts of the United States, have read 'Hillbilly' or other similar books, etc. this would probably be a good addition to read at some point. If you're relatively unfamiliar with "rural America" (as I admittedly am), this might not be a good starting point since it is such a big book with a lot of material and it may be more useful for a reader to read up on other articles, catch up on the conversation, watch the 'Hillbilly' adaptation, etc. before tackling this book but on the other hand it could also be a really great starting place if you're into stats/study-heavy type of books.

Ultimately I'd say as a book alone it's closer to a 3.5 but if taken in context with other books/reference materials on the same material, I'd say it's a 4.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wokeism (n): The Tendency Towards Social Justice Turned Toxic. Got your attention with the headline here, right? Good. Now sit down in that chair right there and let me show you how "it's done".

When you get beyond David Auerbach's Meganets, when you get beyond Tobias Rose-Stockwell's Outrage Machine, when you get to the *person* you think you so adamantly oppose...

... what happens when you find out that while they may come from a different culture than you, the human condition remains the same across cultures, and ultimately they share quite a bit of commonality with you?

What happens when you find out the monster at your door, the horrid kaiju that is threatening your children and your very way of life...

... is just another person who is just trying to protect his own way of life and his own kids, who thinks that *you* are the horrid kaiju threatening *his* kids and way of life?

What happens when you stop shooting at each other for just one minute...

... and find out that you had far more in common than you ever had different all along?

Don't get me wrong, this book has a few problems. Currid-Halkett still tends to be at least somewhat elitist and/ or condescending to those opinions she disagrees with, and there is quite a lot of discussion of COVID here - the latter point being the star deduction, as even in 2023 I remain adamant in my one-man war against any book that mentions COVID, and the single star deduction is my only "real" "weapon" there.

Overall though, it is on the higher end of normally well documented, at 29% bibliography, and fairly well reasoned overall. For those that want to avoid the fates shown in David French's Divided We Fall... this book is one that so very many people will need to read and take to heart.

Very much recommended.

[Chelsea Kaufman · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a professor who studies rural politics and also hails from rural Pennsylvania, I assumed I would be giving this book a 5 star review. However, there are a couple of reasons I took off one star.

Before I proceed, a brief disclaimer: keep in mind this is a personal, and not academic, review. This is my Goodreads account, not an academic journal, and I give romance novels of questionable quality 5 stars simply because I found them a fun time.

Overall, I loved this book. My work for years has been focusing on how we really aren't that divided and rural America is not that backwards. I am so happy a fellow rural Pennsylvanian is out there with the same message! But, there were two things that stood out to me as odd.

1. It seems like despite her remembering her childhood hometown and a nice place that wasn't terrible and full of resentment, and this motivating the book, she seems surprised to find this is still the case? It's as though a lot of the book is written by someone who did not spend time with rural people until writing it? Maybe I just remember rural life better because I am a bit younger and stayed in my hometown to go to the equivalent of Kutztown (the university near Danville she discusses) and then even went to grad school in a rural area (Purdue). So, I would be less removed from that life.

2. Also, despite her focus on showing us the nuance of rural America and reminding us not to judge them, she really paints the urban liberal coastal elite with a broad brush. Yes, that is not the focus of the book, so perhaps this was done for brevity, but it is an odd juxtaposition. Then again, I do buy organic milk so perhaps the stereotype fits 😂

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a really hard time with the first two chapters of this book because of differences in my and the author's backgrounds. She grew up in Danville PA and spends those chapters citing statistics saying that life in rural America isn't any worse than life in the cities (where she now lives--LA). When she does admit to problems (job losses, poverty, opioids) minimizes them as only applying to small areas. I grew up in the coal-and-steel economy of Eastern Ohio where all those things and worse happened and 11 of the 77students in my 1970 graduating class died before 65--some way before.. So I found it offensive that she wanted to blow all those problems away. (Also pretty specious since LA is both Hollywood and Watts so of course it has problems.)
But then it got better as she explored how the rural people she interviewed showed different sources of "cultural capital" than the costal elite that had their own value and worth. She shows how that 'Woke" costal elite dominates the messages we here in ways that are not only inaccurate but cruel and eventually admits that the rural life isn't totally great because it is hard to escape (though she and I did) The writiing isn't' great but the bok has some interesting things to say.

[Joann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I grew up in “Overlooked America”, I found a lot of interesting information in this book. I have always been intrigued as to why some of my classmates were able to remain in the small town we grew up in and how, after forty years, a good friend moved back and lives happily in her childhood home. This book helped me understand. I appreciated Currid-Halkett pointing out, more than once, that the differences in our society are not as great as it would seem. The purported anger of rural Americans may or may not be reality.

There were times the author seemed to be trying too hard to convince us that she really understood both sides of the issue, especially since she has had experience with both. Still, this is a well researched and written book.

[Kyle Bueermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked this out from the local Iibrary. I work with rural churches and pastors across the nation, so I’m trying to read more about rural America outside of just my own experiences.

The author is a self-proclaimed liberal elite, who lives in Los Angeles. And yet, because of her rural upbringing (albeit, not a typical rural upbringing), she wanted to better understand those of us who live in “flyover country.”

Personally, I think Chapters 1 and 8 are fantastic. The others get a bit into the weeds.

I think she takes a fair look at rural America. Where she has a bias, she readily admits it. It was helpful to me. If you work with rural folks, I recommend it. I think the first and last chapters will serve you well also.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to Currid-Halkett, Rural Americans are not the basket of deplorables that the elite 1% and the press have been trying to paint. The author is a statistician and a liberal democrat who lives in LA and is a professor at USC so it was surprising (even to herself) that she became friends and liked the rural people she interviewed for the book. Daily news and newspaper articles tend to be divisive and depressing, this book gave me hope that the majority of Americans are caring, thoughtful and want the best for their fellow citizens and our country. It also points out how the country is run by the top 1% coastal rich for their own benefit and creed.

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply-researched work that helped re-frame for me the commonly held view of a "divided America" and notions of a "coming civil war" in American society. In her research with rural Americans Currid-Halkett finds much more common ground than we are led to believe via traditional and social media. The closing chapter of the book titled "The Through Line" - somewhat of a summation of the author's thesis - is worth the price of the book. The research is at times a bit dense (and there are LOTS of line graphs of data), but I highly recommend this new book.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to keep telling myself that I enjoyed this book, because I truly did. The author seeks to understand rural Americans on their own terms. She does well at this. The major issue is that he she continually injects her own opinions as well, which are typically naive. If she could just have focused better on her subjects, the book would have been great. But her need continually to virtue-signal to her own tribe was so annoying after a while.

Nonetheless, I value this book for its fair and frank assessment of rural America and its strengths.

[Astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Took a while to get through, but had some interesting points to make that I had never thought of before. The first 1/4 is a bit dragging at times, then it picks up. Food for thought in these divisive times.

[Michael Herrera · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half in my opinion is not worth reading. She runs out of insights and ends up leaning more on conjecture and opinion.

But the first half is so strong that I'd still recommend borrowing it from the library and reading the first ~150 pages.

[Melinda Hendrix]

Did not finish this book. Read about 1/4 of it, but it didn’t hold my interest.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazingly insightful into what we think are what divides the USA versus what Currid-Halkett finds. Great read that kept me turning the pages.

[Daniel Kassl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyone who’s spent anytime in rural America knows that we urbanites suffer from a severe lack of empathy for our counterparts out in the country. Currid-Halkett makes a valiant effort towards understanding that the problems, like prejudice and poverty, that we often attribute exclusively to the heartland are in fact omnipresent and have more to do with inequality. Someone had to write a book like this, and it had to happen now.

Strangely, though, the book’s strengths lie not in its analysis of the virtues of rural America but rather the hidden faults of city-dwellers (a particularly strong theme in this book). I am deeply suspicious of the quantitative analysis and reliance on very subjective anecdotes for which anyone could easily come up with counterexamples, and disappointed by the near absence of any basis in political science, except briefly in the conclusion, that a very political monograph demands. And despite the frequent defenses by the author that she is not defending the bigotry and racism that does exist in rural America, it still feels a bit apologetic.

Overall, I have more problems with this book than I’d like. The people who need to read it either won’t or will fail to allow their minds ti be changed. The people who do read this probably find it all to be obvious, overly intellectualized, and condescending.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting takes -- I liked the mix of economic research, sociology interpretation, and real-life examples. I don't agree with some of her takes, but I definitely agree with her primary take-away that we need to be kind to everyone and look at them outside of the labels we love to put on others.