Love the review Mari! I too hope many people read this book. I would just add that crime also is psychologically damaging for people. Crime generates anxiety, mistrust, and fear - and its not good to marinate in negative feelings all the time! When you live in a neighborhood with a lot of crime, so much energy goes to vigilance and worry.
This is an excellent point. I remember that when I would bike along the lakefront in Chicago and would stop at a fountain to take a drink, I would keep one hand on my bike and look around me for thieves the whole time. When I moved to a safer neighborhood in DC, it was like a huge weight--that I hadn't even realized I had been carrying--had been lifted.
I hope that you know that biking that path is now very safe. We do it all the time and are far more worried about people walking in the bike path than anyone trying to rob us. :)
Mari your posts are always a joy to read. In this case very much appreciate how you bust through the barriers to understanding that book "blurbing" now creates. Vance and Peterson are "coded" as right wingers, which is apparently all one needs to know for so many people on the left.
But I'd go a bit further here. My motto is: "people are complicated". I try to remember this every time I encounter someone espousing some belief or attitude that I disagree with. I think I have developed this strategy out of necessity because I am a non-lefty academic (an agnostic, I guess, in religion as well as politics); virtually all my colleagues are hard-left politically, and have reflexive beliefs (including luxury beliefs) about many things that they do not actually understand. Also, I am a southerner who now lives in the upper midwest. During my three decades as a transplant, I have found that nobody up here understands the culture of the south, but everyone thinks they do. BUT! I work with these people. We co-teach design studios. We drive thousands of miles around the country with three dozen undergrads every fall. We work on committees that actually accomplish good things. We have a beer together at happy hour every Thursday.
The lesson for me is that no one should be reduced to being "coded"—you embrace that notion here—but also, no one should be represented incompletely and tendentiously. Jordan Peterson may have nutty ideas about diet (I had not heard of this), but he's well-known for big ideas about big things that run contrary to the postmodern/woke catechism. He's an important culture critic; whatever you think of his arguments, he makes thoughtful arguments. Better to refer to him for the substance of his work that to dismiss him for his beefism.
A further quibble: you "beg the question" about climate change. Causation has not been established between anthropogenic climate inputs and weather events or wildfires, but for many this is received wisdom. Al Gore famously stated that "the science is settled". This is not true. For some of us, being skeptical about this is not "luxury beliefs", but a completely honest devotion to open-mindedness.
Thank you for the kind words and this thoughtful comment. I admire you for negotiating the cultural differences between the south and the upper midwest! As an upper-midwesterner myself, I found the culture shock really challenging when I moved to the East Coast. (Interestingly, the culture in Switzerland, where I now live, is much closer to the one I grew up in than the East Coast of the US was.)
My response to the unsettled connection between carbon in the atmosphere and wildfires and extreme weather events is to invoke Pascal's Wager. If we bet on anthropogenic causes, and shift to renewables and nuclear (I am strongly pro-nuclear power!) and we're wrong, well, the only cost is that very rich people's stock portfolios are slightly less valuable, but the air is a lot cleaner. If we bet against anthropogenic causes and are wrong, the results will be catastrophic. But I do commend you for your open-mindedness, and I was probably too quick to assume that the wildfires and exteme weather must be caused by carbon in the atmosphere.
Mar 6·edited Mar 6Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer
Anyone being "put off" because they don't like the recommenders is captured by luxury beliefs. After many years working in universities I still find eye brows raised at working class students. Vance's book describes a chaotic childhood that was much like mine. Luxury belief holders may not like Vance now but he --through the military-- found his grounding. Lliberals will always hold it against people that didn't grow up knowing all the things they know. They find it easier to ID minority groups to assist but find the WC less than. Neither of my parents finished h.s. and my road was much like Hendersons (tho I married a WC carpenter who was in military and not myself in military). But liberal news outlets have succeeded in persuading liberals that Vance is toxic.
I strongly dislike what Vance has become—especially how he carries water for Trump—but I found much of value in his book and was shocked by the pushback I got when I recommended it. Let’s hope people are more open to reading Henderson’s book, because, as you note, elites need to learn more about what life is like for working-class Americans.
We should never forget that the people on the right, no matter how we disagree with their values, are our fellow citizens and human beings on this planet. “They have a right to be here, no less than the trees and the stars…” —The Desiderata
My 50-year-old daughter with husband and two teen daughters has been eating nothing but meat and various sources of fat for years now . . . and is remarkably slender and vitally active. The apparently instinctive rejection of that diet should perhaps be reconsidered. The "science" of healthy eating from governmental agencies has been wrong and then wrong, wrong again over the decades. Just because Jordan Peterson says it does not make it automatically wrong . . . just, as you note, because Rob Henderson says something does not make it wrong. And I say this while eating a typical American diet of the moderately obese myself.
Well, it is true that we shouldn't dismiss advice just because Jordan Peterson says it (I mean, I fully endorse making your bed every morning!), but don't we need vitamins C and A? But I'm glad that your daughter and her family are doing well on this diet. I do agree that nutritionists have made us far too afraid of fat, which is actually a necessary component of our diets.
Thank you for this. First I asked myself what sort of warped and twisted person would make a decision not to read something because someone they didn't like DID like it.
But then I thought about it a bit more and realized that you are talking about media, and a journalist writing something positive about a work that the Wrong People like may very well be committing career suicide. So I guess it is what kind of warped and twisted system of reward and punishment do we live with.
However, here we have Substack, which allowed my liberal eyes to bypass my own gatekeepers and read your words, otherwise I would never have heard of this work! :-D
Thank you so much for this comment! It is really frustrating to me that there seems to be an agreement among literary elites to ignore this book, because it really is an important story for all privileged people to know and think about. And yes, I am grateful to Substack for its commitment to free speech. When we listen to ideas we have been told are Not for Us, we might learn something!
You probably know this, but the Chuck Norris quote actually originated with Trotsky. The original: “you might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”
I've got two thoughts here, Mari. Like you, my apartment also was robbed multiple times while I lived in Hyde Park and found myself very grateful for the police, who at least weren't indifferent to the damage caused by crimes and stealing. About the book--I don't think I'll read it only because I find books on the topic of damaging childhoods very painful and I can only do so many. I'm thinking also about J.D. Vance and how the smart, fairly thoughtful person who narrated HILLBILLY ELEGY has turned into, as you say, such an incredible right-wing opportunist. I, too, might hesitate to read a book blurbed by Vance because I view him as untrustworthy and no longer thoughtful. That might not be fair, but for me it wouldn't be a political judgement as much as being suspicious of him and his judgement. In contrast, I appreciate how thought-provoking this write-up is.
Thanks, Theresa. I don’t think you would enjoy the book for the very reason you cite. Henderson’s childhood was just unbearably grim. The only thing that kept me going at times (like when he was at Mrs. Martinez’s and she so cruelly exploited him) was knowing he turned out ok in the end. I strongly believe that it’s ok to choose not to read a book if we know it will upset us.
(And with that in mind, let me also strongly recommend that you never read Shuggie Bain, which I just read for a book club. It is impossible to express how relentlessly horrible everything that happened to that poor kid was. This book won so many awards! I have to think it’s a bias of literary-award committees to favor such terribly depressing works.)
I read Shuggie Bain because it was the 2020 Booker Prize winner, and I have to agree that it may have won because of just how horrific the child's existence was. The writing was not bad, but it was not nearly the best I have read. Sometimes pain and suffering in a book, or a movie, can make people think the work is better than it actually is.
Thank you for saying this. I started A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara over a year ago and could not finish it. I would label it trauma porn. Honestly, it was not good for my mental health in a tangible way--I'm not exaggerating. Of course it's important to bring awful realities to light, but as you say, there has to be something redeeming to hold onto, at least for me as a reader.
Love the review Mari! I too hope many people read this book. I would just add that crime also is psychologically damaging for people. Crime generates anxiety, mistrust, and fear - and its not good to marinate in negative feelings all the time! When you live in a neighborhood with a lot of crime, so much energy goes to vigilance and worry.
This is an excellent point. I remember that when I would bike along the lakefront in Chicago and would stop at a fountain to take a drink, I would keep one hand on my bike and look around me for thieves the whole time. When I moved to a safer neighborhood in DC, it was like a huge weight--that I hadn't even realized I had been carrying--had been lifted.
I hope that you know that biking that path is now very safe. We do it all the time and are far more worried about people walking in the bike path than anyone trying to rob us. :)
I am so glad to hear this! Obviously, things are very different now from 25 years ago.
Mari your posts are always a joy to read. In this case very much appreciate how you bust through the barriers to understanding that book "blurbing" now creates. Vance and Peterson are "coded" as right wingers, which is apparently all one needs to know for so many people on the left.
But I'd go a bit further here. My motto is: "people are complicated". I try to remember this every time I encounter someone espousing some belief or attitude that I disagree with. I think I have developed this strategy out of necessity because I am a non-lefty academic (an agnostic, I guess, in religion as well as politics); virtually all my colleagues are hard-left politically, and have reflexive beliefs (including luxury beliefs) about many things that they do not actually understand. Also, I am a southerner who now lives in the upper midwest. During my three decades as a transplant, I have found that nobody up here understands the culture of the south, but everyone thinks they do. BUT! I work with these people. We co-teach design studios. We drive thousands of miles around the country with three dozen undergrads every fall. We work on committees that actually accomplish good things. We have a beer together at happy hour every Thursday.
The lesson for me is that no one should be reduced to being "coded"—you embrace that notion here—but also, no one should be represented incompletely and tendentiously. Jordan Peterson may have nutty ideas about diet (I had not heard of this), but he's well-known for big ideas about big things that run contrary to the postmodern/woke catechism. He's an important culture critic; whatever you think of his arguments, he makes thoughtful arguments. Better to refer to him for the substance of his work that to dismiss him for his beefism.
A further quibble: you "beg the question" about climate change. Causation has not been established between anthropogenic climate inputs and weather events or wildfires, but for many this is received wisdom. Al Gore famously stated that "the science is settled". This is not true. For some of us, being skeptical about this is not "luxury beliefs", but a completely honest devotion to open-mindedness.
Thank you for the kind words and this thoughtful comment. I admire you for negotiating the cultural differences between the south and the upper midwest! As an upper-midwesterner myself, I found the culture shock really challenging when I moved to the East Coast. (Interestingly, the culture in Switzerland, where I now live, is much closer to the one I grew up in than the East Coast of the US was.)
My response to the unsettled connection between carbon in the atmosphere and wildfires and extreme weather events is to invoke Pascal's Wager. If we bet on anthropogenic causes, and shift to renewables and nuclear (I am strongly pro-nuclear power!) and we're wrong, well, the only cost is that very rich people's stock portfolios are slightly less valuable, but the air is a lot cleaner. If we bet against anthropogenic causes and are wrong, the results will be catastrophic. But I do commend you for your open-mindedness, and I was probably too quick to assume that the wildfires and exteme weather must be caused by carbon in the atmosphere.
Anyone being "put off" because they don't like the recommenders is captured by luxury beliefs. After many years working in universities I still find eye brows raised at working class students. Vance's book describes a chaotic childhood that was much like mine. Luxury belief holders may not like Vance now but he --through the military-- found his grounding. Lliberals will always hold it against people that didn't grow up knowing all the things they know. They find it easier to ID minority groups to assist but find the WC less than. Neither of my parents finished h.s. and my road was much like Hendersons (tho I married a WC carpenter who was in military and not myself in military). But liberal news outlets have succeeded in persuading liberals that Vance is toxic.
I strongly dislike what Vance has become—especially how he carries water for Trump—but I found much of value in his book and was shocked by the pushback I got when I recommended it. Let’s hope people are more open to reading Henderson’s book, because, as you note, elites need to learn more about what life is like for working-class Americans.
We should never forget that the people on the right, no matter how we disagree with their values, are our fellow citizens and human beings on this planet. “They have a right to be here, no less than the trees and the stars…” —The Desiderata
My 50-year-old daughter with husband and two teen daughters has been eating nothing but meat and various sources of fat for years now . . . and is remarkably slender and vitally active. The apparently instinctive rejection of that diet should perhaps be reconsidered. The "science" of healthy eating from governmental agencies has been wrong and then wrong, wrong again over the decades. Just because Jordan Peterson says it does not make it automatically wrong . . . just, as you note, because Rob Henderson says something does not make it wrong. And I say this while eating a typical American diet of the moderately obese myself.
Well, it is true that we shouldn't dismiss advice just because Jordan Peterson says it (I mean, I fully endorse making your bed every morning!), but don't we need vitamins C and A? But I'm glad that your daughter and her family are doing well on this diet. I do agree that nutritionists have made us far too afraid of fat, which is actually a necessary component of our diets.
Thank you for this. First I asked myself what sort of warped and twisted person would make a decision not to read something because someone they didn't like DID like it.
But then I thought about it a bit more and realized that you are talking about media, and a journalist writing something positive about a work that the Wrong People like may very well be committing career suicide. So I guess it is what kind of warped and twisted system of reward and punishment do we live with.
However, here we have Substack, which allowed my liberal eyes to bypass my own gatekeepers and read your words, otherwise I would never have heard of this work! :-D
Thank you so much for this comment! It is really frustrating to me that there seems to be an agreement among literary elites to ignore this book, because it really is an important story for all privileged people to know and think about. And yes, I am grateful to Substack for its commitment to free speech. When we listen to ideas we have been told are Not for Us, we might learn something!
Great review.
You probably know this, but the Chuck Norris quote actually originated with Trotsky. The original: “you might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”
I didn’t know that! Thank you for the information!
Whole heartedly agree with an endorsement of reading his book, wholeheartedly disagree with your depiction of Jordan Peterson.
Fair enough! 😊
I've got two thoughts here, Mari. Like you, my apartment also was robbed multiple times while I lived in Hyde Park and found myself very grateful for the police, who at least weren't indifferent to the damage caused by crimes and stealing. About the book--I don't think I'll read it only because I find books on the topic of damaging childhoods very painful and I can only do so many. I'm thinking also about J.D. Vance and how the smart, fairly thoughtful person who narrated HILLBILLY ELEGY has turned into, as you say, such an incredible right-wing opportunist. I, too, might hesitate to read a book blurbed by Vance because I view him as untrustworthy and no longer thoughtful. That might not be fair, but for me it wouldn't be a political judgement as much as being suspicious of him and his judgement. In contrast, I appreciate how thought-provoking this write-up is.
Thanks, Theresa. I don’t think you would enjoy the book for the very reason you cite. Henderson’s childhood was just unbearably grim. The only thing that kept me going at times (like when he was at Mrs. Martinez’s and she so cruelly exploited him) was knowing he turned out ok in the end. I strongly believe that it’s ok to choose not to read a book if we know it will upset us.
(And with that in mind, let me also strongly recommend that you never read Shuggie Bain, which I just read for a book club. It is impossible to express how relentlessly horrible everything that happened to that poor kid was. This book won so many awards! I have to think it’s a bias of literary-award committees to favor such terribly depressing works.)
I read Shuggie Bain because it was the 2020 Booker Prize winner, and I have to agree that it may have won because of just how horrific the child's existence was. The writing was not bad, but it was not nearly the best I have read. Sometimes pain and suffering in a book, or a movie, can make people think the work is better than it actually is.
Thank you for saying this. I started A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara over a year ago and could not finish it. I would label it trauma porn. Honestly, it was not good for my mental health in a tangible way--I'm not exaggerating. Of course it's important to bring awful realities to light, but as you say, there has to be something redeeming to hold onto, at least for me as a reader.
Working through this book now. Juggling with The Coddling of the American Mind at the same time.
Another great choice for a book!