Homeland

by Dale Maharidge

Homeland is Pulitzer Prize winning author Maharidge's biggest and most ambitious book yet, weaving together the disparate and contradictory strands of contemporary American society-common decency alongside race rage, the range of dissenting voices, and the roots of discontent that defy political affiliation. Here are American families who can no longer pay their medical bills, who've lost high-wage-earning jobs to NAFTA. And here are white supremacists who claim common ground with progressives. Maharidge's approach is rigorously historical, creating a tapestry of today as it is lived in America, a self-portrait that is shockingly different from what we're used to seeing and yet which rings of truth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

I'm a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. I've published ten books, including And Their Children After Them, which won the 1990 non-fiction Pulitzer Prize. The most recent is Bringing Mulligan Home/The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs). Before that I released the paperback edition of Someplace Like America/ Tales from the New Great Depression(University of California Press), with a foreword by Bruce Springsteen.

My books are all thematically connected, I believe, rooted in my curiosity about America and who we are as a people. I've documented the economic crisis since the 1980s. For working people, there is no other way to describe it. If you want, check out the afterword I wrote for the paperback of Someplace Like America--I reported in Detroit for it and I found some very interesting things there that raises questions about where we are going as a country.

I spent the first 15 years of my career as a newspaperman, working in Cleveland and Sacramento. I also taught at Stanford University for 10 years, in the Department of Communication.

Reviews

[Lavinia · Rating 5 out of 5]

or: this is the most illuminating piece of nonfiction I've read this year and I'm going to throw it at any single person I know who might have any slight interest in reading it or who might not.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting glimpse into the attitudes and perceptions from a journalistic perspective of the middle-American following the 9-11 sham and subsequent Iraq invasion. Curiously, we learn that the Bible and Rust belt suffer from an abundance of nationalistic fervor and a deficit of information, and the ability to apply critical thinking.

As little town after little town succumbs to the economic realities of the most well-disguised recession in modern times, no connection to the greater global condition can be drawn by these folks who watch their simple livelyhoods dry up, their sons and daughters vanished to fulfill an imperialistic mission that they do not understand beyond the 'us and them' mentality, and revel in notion of demonstrated global military power that they somehow feel a part of.

There is primarily a strong journalistic streak in the reporting, however, there are moments when the author hypothesizes and does not clearly delineate this tact in his writing - astutes readers will have no problem noticing this shortcoming. Overall, interesting, and a very metered and moderated tone through the book definitely creates a readability and demonstrates a sort of aloof compassion for the common man.

[Rachel G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really important book and I highly recommend it to those interested in recent US history. And sadly, everything in it is still very relevant today. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that it starts to go all over the place. The best parts are the ones that focus on individual stories.

[Shawna Prather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me a while to get through. It was really good because it did show so many different points of view and lifestyles in America. kinda makes you realize that there is not one easy answer for our country's problems.

[Tanya Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

As relevant today as it was written after 9/11 (maybe even more so with the rise of Trump and Cruz...as well as establishment Dems like HRC that continue to feed into the same old bullshit). It's more than worth a read. It's a call to consciousness. Definitely recommend.