Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right is the talk of many on the liberal and progressive left. In the book, the reader will travel deep into the solidly red state of Louisiana where Hochschild spent five years doing sixty interviews with Tea Party supporters and conservatives of a variety of stripes, many of whom give their support to Donald Trump by the book’s conclusion.

Hochschild is motivated by what she refers to throughout the book as “The Great Paradox,” by which she means how people, many of whom are low income and working class, come to abhor the federal government, scorn the social safety net, and vote unwaveringly for candidates who implement policies which harm workers and the environment.

While certainly not a novel premise or original question, what sets Strangers in Their Own Land apart from similar works is its sympathetic orientation and Hochschild’s challenge to herself to breach the “empathy wall.” Rather than ask “What’s the matter with Louisiana?” Hochschild allows those in the book to narrate what she refers to as their “deep story,” the “feels as if it’s true” story that shapes their worldview.