The Left Behind

How a fraying social fabric is fueling the outrage of rural Americans
What is fueling rural AmericaΓÇÖs outrage toward the federal government? Why did rural Americans vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump? And is there a more nuanced explanation for the growing rural-urban divide? Drawing on more than a decade of research and hundreds of interviews, Robert Wuthnow brings us into AmericaΓÇÖs small towns, farms, and rural communities to paint a rich portrait of the moral orderΓÇöthe interactions, loyalties, obligations, and identitiesΓÇöunderpinning this critical segment of the nation. Wuthnow demonstrates that to truly understand rural AmericansΓÇÖ anger, their culture must be explored more fully, and he shows that rural AmericaΓÇÖs fury stems less from economic concerns than from the perception that Washington is distant from and yet threatening to the social fabric of small towns. Moving beyond simplistic depictions of AmericaΓÇÖs heartland, The Left Behind offers a clearer picture of how this important population will influence the nationΓÇÖs political future.