THE OVERLOOKED AMERICANS by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett focuses on "The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country." Currid-Halkett, the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, writes "I am not trying to convince you of my perspective, but rather I want to share with you with the people in rural America are experiencing and what they're saying about the important issues of our time." She laments the analysts who are "dismissing and illegitimizing the fact that, for many conservative voters, cultural issues were more important to them than economic ones." Based on her work, Currid-Halkett argues that "the United States is a far less divided place than our media and politicians would like us to believe." She may have a point given, for example, the recent returns on Issue 1 in Ohio where local news conceded, "Residents from extensive urban centers, as well as suburban and rural regions, joined forces to voice their dissent against the potential changes." Currid-Halkett advocates for more listening and outlines a very complicated situation that should spark all kinds of discussion. She includes an extensive Bibliography and Notes which together account for roughly a fourth of the text. THE OVERLOOKED AMERICANS received a starred review from Kirkus, is a 2023 Must Read Book for The Next Big Idea Club, and would certainly complement the work that Judy Woodruff is doing for PBS on America at a Crossroads.

Wokeism (n): The Tendency Towards Social Justice Turned Toxic. Got your attention with the headline here, right? Good. Now sit down in that chair right there and let me show you how "it's done".

When you get beyond David Auerbach's Meganets, when you get beyond Tobias Rose-Stockwell's Outrage Machine, when you get to the *person* you think you so adamantly oppose...

... what happens when you find out that while they may come from a different culture than you, the human condition remains the same across cultures, and ultimately they share quite a bit of commonality with you?

What happens when you find out the monster at your door, the horrid kaiju that is threatening your children and your very way of life...

... is just another person who is just trying to protect his own way of life and his own kids, who thinks that *you* are the horrid kaiju threatening *his* kids and way of life?

What happens when you stop shooting at each other for just one minute...

... and find out that you had far more in common than you ever had different all along?

Don't get me wrong, this book has a few problems. Currid-Halkett still tends to be at least somewhat elitist and/ or condescending to those opinions she disagrees with, and there is quite a lot of discussion of COVID here - the latter point being the star deduction, as even in 2023 I remain adamant in my one-man war against any book that mentions COVID, and the single star deduction is my only "real" "weapon" there.

Overall though, it is on the higher end of normally well documented, at 29% bibliography, and fairly well reasoned overall. For those that want to avoid the fates shown in David French's Divided We Fall... this book is one that so very many people will need to read and take to heart.

Very much recommended.