The Gilded Rage, Alexander Zaitchik
The Gilded Rage, Alexander Zaitchik
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The Gilded Rage
A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump's America

Author: Alexander Zaitchik

Narrator: Todd McLaren

Unabridged: 3 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 07/18/2017


Synopsis

Selected as one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten picks for Politics & Current Events of Fall 2016
2016 continues to be the most surreal and unpredictable election year in recent memory and this is due in large part to one Donald J. Trump and the millions of Americans who made him this year's Republican nominee for president. As Trump continues to succeed despite behavior that would cripple any other politician, whether it is questioning the patriotism of the Gold Star Khan family or banishing a baby from one of his press conferences, it is imperative to understand why so many continue to support him. And this is what makes The Gilded Rage so important; it provides insight into the forgotten Americans that continue to befuddle pundits and "experts" on CNN and FOX alike.

This grippingly intimate and heart-breaking book provides a portrait of the walking wounded who make up the base of the Trump movement. Desperate and angry, these are the Americans of the vanishing industrial heartland, depressed Appalachian coal country, and the no-man's land along the Southwestern border. These are coal miners, out of work construction workers, and small business owners, who have watched their fortunes dwindle with each passing year. They have no illusions about the grandstanding billionaire and his glaring flaws. But these men and women feel forgotten and screwed over by political, corporate and media elites...and they feel that Donald Trump, despite his flamboyant demagoguery, might well be their last chance for salvation. Reminiscent of Studs Terkel's Working, with a dash of Hunter S. Thompson, Alexander Zaitchik in this important book takes us deeper into the ravaged soul of America than any other chronicler of our times.

Selected as one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten picks for Politics & Current Events of Fall 2016

Praise for Alexander Zaitchik's Common Sense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance:

"A sharp and informative smackdown. For Zaitchik, [Glenn] Beck is just one more American con artist in the P.T. Barnum tradition, a shameless pseudoconservative bottom-feeder who will say anything to keep the spotlight on himself while the money rolls in."
--Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books

"A sensational book... This is a beautifully written and insightful biography--thoughtful, considered, and very intentional about the need to understand Beck both as a symbol of something larger going on in America and as a person."
--Susan Gardner, Daily Kos

"A scathing profile that follows the powerful pundit from a single-parent home in rural Washington state to conservative superstardom."
--The Boston Globe

"A great political book. Zaitchik tells [Beck's story] well and nobody has told it more soberly."
--Slate

"An informative study."
--Sean Wilentz, The New Yorker

"A gripping and thoroughly researched biography."
--Joe Conason, Salon

About Alexander Zaitchik

Alexander Zaitchik is a freelance journalist. His writing has appeared in the Nation, the New Republic, the Intercept, the Guardian, Rolling Stone, Foreign Policy, VICE, and the Baffler, among many other publications. Owning the Sun is his third book. He lives in New Orleans.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Philip on September 14, 2016

Other books, e.g., Charles Murray's Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, have explored the diminishing fortunes of the white working and middle class in an abstract way. What's unique about Zaitchik's approach is that he mingles with Trump supporters at their homes, at VFW halls, at......more

Goodreads review by Judi on November 17, 2016

I understand to a degree. Sigh. I must take some onus for cocooning myself for quite some time, thinking, perceiving that "things" continued to progress in America. Move ahead. Gay marriage. Women's rights. The racial divide. Of late I have sensed unrest brewing, the wind beginning to stir. Again, I......more

Goodreads review by Robert on November 09, 2016

During the 2016 Republican primary season, freelance journalist Alexander Zaitchik traveled the country, trolling for comments at Donald Trump rallies, bars, cafes, ranches and ruined mining and steel towns. The result is this slim volume of oral reportage in the style of Studs Terkel-meets-Hunter......more

Goodreads review by Ariel on February 28, 2017

I only gave it 4 stars because I think it would have been even better longer. The book lets people talk for themselves and it isn't condescending. I am a liberal who lives in a porous bubble. I have friends, neighbors and family members who voted for Trump, and the writer makes a stop in my state. B......more

Goodreads review by veronica awald on March 20, 2017

This book is absolutely worth the read. I strongly consider myself a Democrat and I am not proud to have Trump as my president. HOWEVER, after reading this book I have a better understanding of some things my party neglects and need to focus on. My favorite part of the book was learning about the pe......more