Publishers Weekly
★ 03/04/2024
Exurbia is “the breeding and staging ground for the far-right insurgency, and, therefore, the battleground of American democracy,” claims journalist Masciotra (I Am Somebody) in this unsparing inquiry into America’s racialized geography. He argues that as the suburbs become more diverse, white conservatives are abandoning them for the exurban fringe, where far-right activists work to gain control of town councils, school boards, and police departments, forming ideological enclaves that percolate white discontent and paranoia. To make his case, Masciotra draws on his personal knowledge of communities on the far edges of Chicago in Illinois and northwest Indiana, along with reporting and sociological studies—including one showing that the most common factor among January 6 insurrectionists was that they lived in counties where the non-white population was growing. Most rewardingly, he delves deep into suburban political history, incorporating a wide array of narrative threads; these range from an interview with a former leader of America’s first neo-Nazi skinhead gang—which in the 1970s and ’80s roamed Chicago’s south suburbs, attacking Black and Latino people on the street—to an inquest into the thinly veiled political agenda behind suburbs’ usual absence of sidewalks. (As one urban planner explains, the idea is that “if we have sidewalks, we’re going to bring people who do not belong.”) It’s both a darkly limned history of Chicagoland and a convincing portrait of a new era of white flight. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
Focusing on greater Chicago, Masciotra argues that the exurbs, home to both monster trucks and liberals, are becoming a key political arena.” - New York Times Book Review
“. . .nonpartisan and even semi-partisan readers should find their minds opened by journalist Masciotra's incisive, worry-making, and deeply humane book, which sits somewhere between an exposé and a long-form think piece.” - Shelf Awareness
“well-reported, passionately argued” - Newcity Literature
"Cultural critic David Masciotra’s newest book Exurbia Now is a timely appraisal of an American political landscape marked by dangerous isolation...an urgent work of political analysis that treats small-town life as the center of the battle for American national identity." — Foreword Review
"Having been born and raised in exurbia, Masciorta brings his personal experience to his cogent and frightening analysis of the mindset that has taken hold in so many American small towns and rural communities, offering insight and a fresh perspective on the culture wars dividing the country. Highly recommended." — Booklist STARRED Review
"An incredibly absorbing, essential and personal portrait of our nation's growing political divide, Exurbia Now takes the reader on a rare, eye-opening journey through cultural upheavals on the outskirts of our cities. At once moving and disturbing, rarely has a book been so timely, and convincing." — Jeff Biggers, author of State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown Over the American Dream
“Reading this book, it’s absolutely clear how the far right has managed to transform extant suburban fears of economic and social upheaval into conspiracy theories, paranoia, and authoritarian ideation. This is an enlightening and discomfiting look at how the place I spent much of my life in is becoming unrecognizable.” — Mike Rothschild, author of The Storm Is Upon Us
“David Masciotra delivers an introspective tour de force that lays bare the cultural and political underpinnings of exurbia. Exurbia Now is a history of places elite Democrats frequently misunderstand, an urgent reassessment of strategies that can win hearts and minds there, and a call to action for liberals who love small towns and want to stay and fight.” — David Faris, author of It’s Time to Fight Dirty
“An expressionistic ramble through the all-American countryside, out there beyond the cities and the suburbs, that brought us MAGA hats, megachurches and sedition—yet still offers hope, and the prospect of renewal. There is passion in David Masciotra’s writing, but not hate. He loves his country—just not blindly.” — John A. Farrell, author of Richard Nixon: The Life
