BOOK GROUP TO START THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 9
Joe Bageant, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War
“After three decades of writing in the magazine and newspaper business, I was very frustrated with magazines and newspapers and tired of the glib paint-by-number material that clogged the newsstands in the never-ending search for the broadest demographic upon whom to inflict advertising.”
What did Joe Bageant do? He embraced the internet, the “opportunity for a writer to say exactly what he wanted the way he wanted to say it, and let the readers decide for themselves without the intervention of the print industry’s editorial drones.” Articles published on a variety of a blogs, in 2007 became this book of observations from Winchester, Virginia; it was the writer’s hometown he had decided to move back to after a thirty-year absence.
Studs Terkel commented, “This recounting of lost lives — of white have-nots in one of our most have-not states — has the power of an old-time Scottish Border ballad.” It’s a book chock-full of anecdotes and insights — just braze yourself for the language.
Some of the chapter subtitles include
Inside the white ghetto of the working poor
Black powder and buckskin in heartland America
They plead upon the blood of Jesus for a theocratic state
The American health care system on life support
There already is a small group of people who want to talk about this book, and if you’re interested, they’d love to have you join the conversation. The current plan is to meet about four times, starting the week of September 9. Please get your own copy of the book, and sign up here. The sign-up form gives you several options to indicate your preference for a day and time for the group to meet.