NC is a big swing state in the 2024 election and it is a New South State in the cities and still staunchly Red in many of the smaller towns. Christopher Cooper's new book, Anatomy Of a Purple State gives the reader a deeper understanding of the political history of NC and where we are trending for the future. I"m a political junky and so I enjoyed this book about my adopted state and its politics. One point off for it reading a bit dry but all in all, this is a valuable book in this election year.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I was excited to read this book; I am a native North Carolinian, and I have always been politically active (my first big interview was with Jim Hunt in 1977 for my high school newspaper). My husband and I have traveled extensively and lived in Finland, Washington state and Chicago for his job, so we have been fortunate to experience many different cultures and political views. We both were moderate Republicans in our younger days (I was an anomaly in 1970s Chapel Hill, where I went to college), but as with many moderates, we got disgusted with the direction the party was taking, but also did not like the extremely progressive leanings of the Democratic party. So we have been happily unaffiliated -- the correct North Carolina political designation, although I prefer the name "Independent" -- for years, although I freely admit to voting for Democrats 95% of the time.

Mr. Cooper does an admirable job describing the political history in our state. He has a fascinating chapter on the rise of the unaffiliated voting bloc in our state. I did not realize that in 2017, the number of N.C. voters who registered as unaffiliated surpassed the number who were registered as Republicans, and by 2022, the same statistic was true for unaffiliated voters over Democratic voters. Mr. Cooper points out that this is especially troubling for traditional party members and leaders, because the large numbers of young voters registering as unaffiliated will make it more difficult to recruit young candidates, party workers and officials. I found it especially interesting i that North Carolina is second only to Texas in the number of rural voters, and this is the biggest threat I see to informed voting, as many of those rural voters do not have access to the never-ending flood of news and information -- whether it is real or "fake," and they are more likely to vote along party lines without having sufficient knowledge to choose a candidate based on who is the best choice. This is no more evident than looking at the current Republican choice for governor, whose views are the total antithesis of common sense and integrity (in my opinion).

The fact that North Carolina has continued to elect a Democrat for governor in recent years, while favoring Republicans in other state races, and barely voting Republican in recent presidential elections, tells me that voters are still leaning more conservatively in general. Gerrymandering, lack of control in the General Assembly, and the attempt to strip the governor of power all make our status as a "purple" state a question mark for the future. Information is power, and getting the facts to all voters -- rural and urban -- is imperative.

I took away one star because the book does read like a textbook, and I think the reader needs to be very interested in politics and history to appreciate it. Obviously, I am in that category, and I enjoyed the book.