Review by Choice Review
In this book, Silva (Bucknell Univ.) studies working-class participation in the electoral politics of a Pennsylvania "coal mining" community. None of the interviewees are coal miners, as the industry has all but disappeared there. Instead, Silva engages a multiracial working class fraught with economic anxieties, hatred for the rich and powerful, and support for social democratic policies but divided by racism. Within the past decade, demographic shifts transformed the political landscape as "rising housing costs, poverty, and crime have pushed black and Latino people out of urban economies and into the coal region." As Silva reveals, many white residents (perhaps reluctantly) accepted an exchange of economic insecurity for the psychological comfort of white racial exceptionalism to deal with the changes. In fact, many whites interviewed for this book had constructed a working-class identity that rested primarily on their whiteness, leading one-time Democratic Party loyalists to support Donald Trump. Thus, social class as a political identity is not a "response to sharing the same education level, income bracket, or job." It is a process of constructing, contesting, and remaking a collective identity "through concrete social relationships that generate values, traditions, and shared interests." Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Joel Robert Wendland-Liu, Grand Valley State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
When Silva, assistant professor of sociology at Bucknell University, began her research in Pennsylvania's coal mining region in 2015, she planned to explore the connection between individuals' sense of self and their political beliefs. Instead, she discovered that many felt entirely disengaged from American political life, frequently expressing distrust for the government and politicians they believed were motivated by corporate money. In place of class-based solidarity, she found common threads of pain and individual struggle. In this book, Silva explores how white, Black, and Hispanic men and women in the region seek independent methods to survive in the absence of living-wage jobs, a social safety net, and traditional institutions such as unions. Some moved to the region to start fresh, while others feel trapped by lack of opportunity. That they manage or overcome pain, caused by poverty, addiction, domestic violence, illness, and instability, serves as proof of their strength and moral righteousness. Silva's thoughtful, compelling study illustrates the complexities of work, race, and hope as the promise of the American Dream, for many, appears dim.--Laura Chanoux Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sociologist Silva (Coming Up Short) presents an informative study on the political inclinations and widespread disengagement of working-class people in Pennsylvania's Coal Region. This encapsulation of two years of interviews with 108 people paints a disturbing picture of pain and hopelessness. Many interviewees recall histories of abuse and assault, heroin habits, constant financial insecurity, racism, and PTSD. Consequently, most are, as one explains, "more worried about survival than the shit show of politics." Silva's study overlapped with the 2016 presidential election; overwhelmingly, those interviewed voted for Trump, even lifelong Democrats. Silva elucidates this choice, often in the interviewees' own words: some espouse white supremacist beliefs, but many describe being attracted to Trump's "unapologetic honesty" and promise to bring jobs back to the region. Silva demonstrates how the personal feeds into the political, how people project their frustrations--as well as their pain, disappointment, and anger--onto political candidates and onto each other (subjects blame and indemnify each other for taking advantage of entitlement programs and for lacking the motivation to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps), dashing the potential for a large-scale, unified movement for working-class rights. This work, focused as it is on values and politics in a region with high electoral significance, will especially interest readers of Hillbilly Elegy and armchair political oracles. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Drawing upon more than 100 interviews conducted in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania, Silva (sociology, Bucknell Univ.; Coming Up Short) explores how blue-collar workers connect their everyday lives, experiences, and struggles to their politics. The author supplies pseudonyms and amalgamates the towns into one, called Coal Brook, to protect the respondents. Many of the interviews were conducted in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Interviewees come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds and include new arrivals to the region as well as those whose roots stretch back several generations. Silva challenges the assumption that blue-collar workers uniformly turned out for Trump, having discovered that many of the people, regardless of race, age, gender, or background, deeply mistrusted government and other social institutions, with many believing their votes were inconsequential. Many of the stories are truly heartrending and thought provoking. VERDICT Anyone interested in the lives and motivations of blue-collar workers and their participation in the electoral process should read this insightful work.--Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH
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