As someone who studied both sociology and political science, I was really excited to read this. It was very readable and easily accessible, sometimes reading like a novel.

Hochschild interviews residents across different backgrounds- white, Black, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, middle aged, elderly, youth, republicans, liberal, moderates-across Kentucky’s 5th Congressional district, namely Pikeville. KY-5 is the second poorest and whitest district in the USA.

As she interviews people from all backgrounds to get a full picture, it also meant she interviewed neo nazis like the leader of the March, Matthew Heimbach. It was difficult to read his sections because of all the hate he had.

In 2017 a neo nazi group marched in Pikeville before the infamous Charlottesville March, led by Heimbach. The area has seen loss of jobs as the coal mines close as well as an increase in opioid drug use/overdoses. Hochschild looks at the residents from 2016-2023 and how they went from Democrats to Republicans so rapidly, while also looking at the history/culture of the region.

This book offers an empathetic view of why many rural residents, specifically in this district, have voted republican. Trying to bridge the gap of republicans and democrats, to approach a conversation and understand each other. Where many interviewees have expressed their feelings of shame and blame from liberals calling them names and stereotyping them as “hillbillies” as well as using ableist language as insults towards them.

One of the most interesting concepts was the “Pride paradox”- where they blame themselves for failures and have the ‘pick yourself up by the bootstraps mentality’ (Protestant Ethic) and the pride of being hard working, wanting the American dream, and hometown pride as most of the residents have been there all their lives. Essentially “if I succeed it’s because of me, and if I fail it’s my fault.” Hochschild offers a view into their lives to explore the culture and community of eastern Kentucky and how this “pride paradox” has caused a rift in the US political landscape.

I learned a lot about Kentucky and their politics, such as how the state gerrymanders the number of reps they get in the House by including prisoners while still excluding their eligibility to vote which was infuriating. 

Author and subjects look at issues around race, social class, and privilege. One person talked about his feeling shame and anger at stereotypes about being racist because he’s white, poor, and rural and he doesn’t feel heard by any politicians because of his social class (“republicans are rich and racist and democrats don’t seem to care about anything except race, gender, and sexual identity”). He also discussed the idea of privilege and how he feels he has more in common with poor black people than other white people of varying social classes, but because he’s white, people assume he doesn’t know what it’s like to struggle. For this it’s easy to understand because of course he has white privilege compared to POC but he doesn’t have privilege when it comes to social class, but if you just say “privilege” not everyone understands the varying levels and how different it can be even within your own race. Many in the area associate privilege with having an easy “hoity toity” life and they haven’t as many worked hard labor, suffered through addiction, lost jobs, etc.

Some interviewees even discussed how they feel like they have more in common with blue collar Black people and immigrants because of their shared class and economic struggles. But they still vote for trump because he wasn’t like other politicians. It’s a confusing paradox to be sure but it also makes some sense in a way because if your region is hard hit and politicians have been ignoring you/abandoning their constituents until election season, why wouldn’t you take a chance on someone outside of politics? 

As much as I personally disagree with Trump and will never understand how people can ignore how racist, sexist, homophobic he is and still vote for him, I can empathize with their feelings of isolation and hopelessness. Many had lost their jobs, living in poverty, and felt alienated by the Democratic Party as the candidates pushed for things like clean energy whereas these people dedicated their entire lives for generations to coal (as one example).

I’d highly recommend if you want to understand the politics and culture of Eastern Kentucky, specifically the Appalachian hollers, and the shift they had from blue to red.

TW/CW: racism, holocaust (and holocaust deniers), slavery, child abuse, violence, drug abuse, classism, alcoholism, addiction, suicide, domestic violence, death

Thank you, NetGalley and The New Press for this book for review. I read and loved this author's first book, Strangers in Their Own Land, so I knew I had to read her new book on Stolen Pride and stories about those living in Appalachia. The white poor in this area have lost jobs with coal leaving and drugs coming in making many addicts thanks to the Purdue family. The author gives voices to many from these cities, some that used to be white nationalists, some that are trying to bring pride back to their families in any way they can. This is a powerful book that shows how poverty can affect anyone, when pride gets in the way. Oh, and January 6th wasn't just a couple of boys who got a little rowdy.

Another modern masterpiece from Hochschild! Taking a magnifying glass to a little-seen part of American political life, she excavates some of the darkest recesses of the American mind. While this book almost certainly will be preaching to the choir, it give a much needed frame of reference on America in the third decade of the 21st century. It's theme will almost certainly seem prescient after the November 2024 election.

In Stolen Pride, Arlie Russell Hochschild masterfully weaves journalism and interviews into a narrative that is both engaging and accessible. As someone who grew up in the South, I found the book compelling, especially in its exploration of the “pride paradox” that has fueled the political divide in America. Hochschild’s deep dive into the lives of working-class men in rural Kentucky, a region long overlooked, feels timely given the upcoming 2024 election.
The strength of Stolen Pride lies in its empathy. Hochschild paints a complex picture of people who feel forgotten and often ignored by both political parties. While the left and Democrats frequently reduce Trump voters to stereotypes of ignorance or malice, Hochschild challenges these assumptions. Her portrayal shows that these individuals are not just voting against their self-interests but responding to a deep sense of shame, loss, and pride. As socialists, this should remind us that we need to reach out to these communities, not alienate them further.
The book's discussion of Purdue Pharmaceuticals and its devastating impact on rural America stood out to me, especially in light of the opioid crisis. Hochschild didn’t miss any crucial perspectives, skillfully balancing personal stories with larger societal forces. Her examination of why working-class Americans, particularly in Appalachia, have shifted toward voting for Trump offers an insightful analysis through the lens of shame and pride.
While I found the narrative compelling, I wish Hochschild had spent more time on specific stories, like Matthew’s. The mention of his family considering a move to Russia was so outlandish that I craved more details about him and his children.
Overall, Stolen Pride is a must-read, especially for those of us on the left. Hochschild's empathy and ability to gain the trust of the people she interviewed make the book memorable. As we approach the November election, this book offers an invaluable perspective for those campaigning and recruiting for leftist causes. I highly recommend it.

Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild looks at how an area in eastern Kentucky, near the West Virginia border, has moved from a moderate political stance to over 80% voting red in 2020.

The author spent over seven years getting to know different individuals in depth from a variety of backgrounds and captures the nuances, complications and contradictions of real people. Interestingly, she focuses first on a white nationalist rally that occurred in Pikeville, KY in 2017. While the rally leader was hoping to recruit, the interviewed locals all seemed largely disinterested. But, this helped to set the overall theme of the “pride paradox” which is that the hard-working, typically resilient people in the area take on personal responsibility for situations that are often outside of their control. When this loss of pride, shame, occurs, reactions can focus inward, paving the way for an opioid crisis, or it can focus outward to blame for immigrants, liberals and government, a disdain for urban dwellers and play into racist ideologies. The last part of the book looks at how a strong personality with a narrative promising a release from that shame (grounded in reality or not) can shape opinion.

While much of this did not feel new, it was interesting to follow in-depth stories (not just sound bites), told to a compassionate listener, describing complex lives. However, it would have been helpful to hear from the 20% or so that did not vote for Trump in the last election. What is different about their deep stories that does not lead them down the same road as the rest?

Overall, this is a very readable analysis of the culture and political outlook of Appalachia and is recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This was a fascinating, nuanced look at people who live in a very different part of the country that I do. As a self-professed political junkie, it can be hard to reconcile that there are people who just don't think the way I do about issues - books like this help to bridge that gap, and show you what the "other side" is really thinking. I appreciate Hochschild's years of on the ground research, especially in the midst of a pandemic. This is a problem that is not going to go away easily - folks in the rural areas of the country feel like the rest of us are putting them down and devaluing their way of life, and until we come up with some concrete ways to change that, we are never going to be able to come together.

I picked this one for the author. She usually writes about women and that is my area of interest but I love her so I thought I should probably read this even though it is about far right men. It was interesting. I did not want to develop any compassion for these men at all. I know that's wrong but they are pretty awful.
But I did develop some compassion. So thanks for that.

"Stolen Pride" is a perfect companion to the author's earlier book, "Strangers in Their Own Land."

"Strangers" was a study of Tea Party voters and the appeal of Trump across socioeconomic lines in Lake Charles, LA, heart of the state's petrochemical industry. "Stolen Pride" takes place over the years 2017-2023/4 in Pike County, Kentucky, the most rural Congressional district in America. The book begins in 2017, when Hochshild went there to see whether a planned white supremacist march would gain traction in a county whose coal industry had disappeared.

The book then moves into a study of what happens when pride turns to shame, and th.en turns to blame. The author interviews, in depth over time, several people, mostly men, who've lost mining jobs, suffered from addiction and have otherwise seen their way of life disappear and be denigrated. The author frames the question around the Latin root of pride, prode which means "to be of use.". What I found most fascinating was the way she framed how all of her interviewees wanted to be of use and how they responded when their skills (coal mining, fixing things, resourcefulness) were not only no longer of use, but mocked as antiquated.

I was especially intrigued by the sections on "hood to holler," the similarities between the urban and rural poor, and would love to see a study of that.

Highly recommended, along with "Strangers."

This honest review was given in exchange for an advanced reader copy from Net Galley and The New Press.

Hoschschild once again does what she did so well in "Strangers in Their Own Land" - she tells the stories of Americans on the right. This time she is in one of the poorest congressional districts in the country in rural Kentucky where she develops relationships with people over 7 years and is able to get to the heart of their beliefs. She is balanced and frames her book around pride versus shame and how that shapes people's lives. Of course, I want easy answers to explain why people vote against what (in my opinion) is in their best interest, but Hochschild once again demonstrates how complex people are. An important book for anyone trying to understand today's politics.

ARC for review. To be published September 10, 2024. Special thanks to NetGalley and The New Press.

In Stolen Pride, Arlie Russell Hochschild focuses on Pikeville, Kentucky (KY-05) amid our ongoing period of intense polarization and division. Pikeville was selected as her area of research for this book because it is one of the most poor, white, and Trump supporting districts in the country. Furthermore, during this time, white nationalists wanted to prey on the hardships of the white residents by hosting an event in the county. Here, she interviews people ranging from imprisoned white supremacists, a Holocaust survivor, a Muslim, a Black person, and many white people who have been dealt rough deals in life.

While many have sought to unpack the current political Right in the United States, there are many aspects of this book that I appreciated that I believe definitely made a positive contribution to the understanding of this population and people who might feel like they strongly relate to some of the white people in the book. Hochschild draws upon the micro level emotions and feelings of pride and shame and applies it to macro phenomena. I thought she integrated the micro and macro phenomena together effectively when seeking to analyze the pride paradox.. Emphasizing these micro-level sociological concepts was very useful and eye-opening because it captured the authenticity of some of these residents in ways that are often missed or overlooked. It goes beyond reducing people’s behavior to various identity characteristics. Without giving too much away, Hochschild vividly illustrates throughout the book the importance of pride and how the quest to regain that pride shapes the lived experiences of these individuals, including those who have abandoned the idea of pride altogether. Additionally, she does not patronize any of the people she interacted with. As a reader, this allowed for a more open and honest examination of the experiences of the people in the book. Even as a sociology student who has explored political sociology, there was still much for me to gain from this book. Learning about the authentic experiences of people like David, Shea, Alex, and Tommy challenged some of my preconceived notions. They have much more to offer than many Americans give them the credit or means for and they offer many thought-provoking insights throughout. Hochschild does a great job of tying some of these thought-provoking insights back to the important concept of pride and the implications of that pride being stolen. Unlike what I was expecting, this book is not merely about politics or Trump which I actually think strengthens her ability to capture what pride means to them because it enabled her to focus on critical parts of their identity and life that people miss when they reduce this population to stereotypes, who they voted for, or their skin color. Moreover, Hochschild did a great job at bringing out the similarities poor white Appalachians have with populations they feel they are often pitted against such as people of color and immigrants. These similarities are often overlooked and I believe addressing this division was useful in explaining how individualized concepts such as pride and shame interact with broader macro political issues to create these outcomes of division and despair.

Overall, I thought this book effectively explored this topic with an approach that even many people who mean well often miss. She effectively captures the authenticity of Pikeville without presenting them as this alien species that I have seen in much literature. I think this book would be beneficial for all audiences — sociologist or not, left, right, rich, poor, and any person that cares deeply about the soul of the nation.

A wonderfully empathetic overview of the rise of the right in Appalachia.

This is a book about people, not politics. The author shows compassion for her subjects, while telling some ha4d truths about where their views are leading them and our country.

I highly recommend this book for those who really want to understand the circumstances and challenges that have worked together to create the conservative push that we are seeing in so many rural areas.

Arc review. Thanks NetGalley. The book releases September 2024.

I have assigned excerpts from Hochschild's previous work, Strangers in Their Own Land, since my very first semester, and thus was quite excited to see this follow-up appear.

This doesn't match the revelation that was Strangers in Their Own Land. But I'm almost glad it doesn't - the book avoids the concern of becoming a redux. The differences in approach Hochschild takes here still provide an empathetic, insightful portrait of an overlooked population, and center their experiences without tilting commentary (one of the chief criticisms of SITOL).

I struggled with outlining the framework of the Pride Paradox from the beginning; in the early chapters, some residents' stories felt shoehorned into Hochschild's concept. But as the book gets further along, the connection seems more natural. By the end, I was fully bought into the argument of why feelings of "stolen pride' explain so much of our current political landscape, especially for those in rural cultures like Appalachia.

Similarly, the views and perspectives of some of the most controversial figures in the book are presented without admonition, in a way that is quite jarring at first. But ultimately, I think that step is necessary to highlight the centrality of pride to identity, perception, and worldview.

My disjointed thoughts here probably indicate how much I struggled with this book - but not in the negative connotation. Stolen Pride engaged me, enraged me, educated me, and left me grappling with so many thoughts and perspectives I would not have encountered otherwise. This book represents the best kind of challenge for a reader - you will find it stuck in your mind, resistant to simplified resolution, and hopefully will discover its effect on how you view these forgotten communities trying to survive.

The author, whose last book was a finalist for the National Book Award turns her lens to Appalachia to examine what she calls the “pride paradox,” or shame into blame that leads to blue/red state division, anger and, sometimes, the violence that threaten democracy.

Hochschild focuses on Pikeville, Kentucky, a small town of about seven thousand in eastern Kentucky fairly close to the West Virginia border. It is in the country’s whitest and second poorest Congressional district. Historically it has been largely reliant on coal jobs which are, for the most part, gone and there is a major opioid problem in the area; by 2016 80% of KY-5 supported candidate Donald Trump.

Thirty-six percent of KY-5 is covered by Medicaid, which the Republicans generally disapprove of and generally attempt to limit. For all of Kentucky, 38% of its budget comes from the federal government. Oh, and 70% of white men without a bachelor’s degree support Donald Trump.

As for the author’s “pride paradox,” it’s that people in red states are generally worse off (see that 70% mentioned above.). However, it’s those same people who, when surveyed, tend to feel that if they are not successful they, the individual person, is responsible for that lack of success….it’s not due to societal factors, etc. (of course, this is, in part, due to racial factors.). Hence the paradox, they are doing badly but also feel badly about it. So they are looking for someone to blame. And boy, does Donald help them with that!

Of course, in the words of one well off resident of the area, “urban liberals don’t even think about it but they’re the pride news. To them, coal miners with dirty faces, off and on poverty, lung disease, we’re the shame news.” OK, to be fair, do those sound like things to be prideful about? There are lots of great things about Appalachia and the people who live there, but those things aren’t among them. Those sound like words from someone who sounds like he has a giant chip on his shoulder. And I’m from and live in Appalachia.

There are really two distinct sections to the book; in the first the author uses the framework of a 2019 White Nationalist march in Pikeville to get a read on the populace, and in the second, a lead up to the 2020 election.

As to the march the whitest area of the country largely defies stereotypes. Matthew Heimbach, the man who would go on to orchestrate Charlottesville, organized the Pikeville march, hoping for lots of publicity and new recruits and got….a lot of disinterest. There are a number of interesting interviews with Heimbach.

The pre-election information is a bit more varied. Yes, there is the guy who believes Democrats are drinking blood. Most is a bit more nuanced, but the basics are the same, and a lot of misunderstandings seem to come from the fact that many people get all their news and information from within the same right-wing bubble that brought us untruths like the idea that the election was stolen, which just isn’t so.

Some residents of Pikeville spoke of a “Democratic” war on coal. Trump promised to bring coal jobs back but the area actually LOST more coal jobs under Trump than it did under the Obama terms. Just numbers people. Facts. Coal is a dying industry. Just a fact. No one can save it.

Another fallacy, Biden and gas prices. This wasn’t Biden…didn’t anyone notice that oil companies made record profits in the past few years? Record profits. And, just for laughs, because both parties need corporate donors, but which party is FAR more apt to provide corporate tax breaks? Republicans.

And then, as to Trump himself, “what to many seemed like disqualifying character flaws - selfishness, narcissism, vengefulness, cruelty - ‘when he’s running for us, that’s to our advantage,’” So, the author notes, kids in school are learning far different rules for character than we look for in our President.

Good book. The people who need it won’t read it, except for, hopefully, everyone in Pikeville and the surrounding area. Maybe it will change some minds there. I will never understand people voting against their own self interest who also can’t argue they aren’t doing it for the greater good of society. One way of solving the pride paradox would be to be proud to stand against “selfishness, narcissism, vengefulness and cruelty.” They aren’t what we should seek in our leaders and are what we must stand vigilant against in ourselves.