Fault Lines
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15
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Average rating3
"In the middle of the 1970s, America entered a new era of doubt and division. Major political, economic, and social crises--Watergate, Vietnam, the rights revolutions of the 1960s--had cracked the existing social order. In the years that followed, the story of our own lifetimes would be written. Longstanding historical fault lines over income inequality, racial division, and a revolution in gender roles and sexual norms would deepen and fuel a polarized political landscape. In Fault Lines, leading historians Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer reveal how the divisions of the present day began almost four decades ago, and how they were echoed and amplified by a fracturing media landscape that witnessed the rise of cable TV, the internet, and social media. How did the United States become so divided?"--
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Short Thoughts: This is a good, very readable historical overview of 1974 to 2016. The framing is about the increasing polarization brought about by four fault lines, income inequality, racial division, changing gender roles and changing understanding of LGBT and other issues of sexuality.
Even though the framing is on those fault lines, the main focus is telling the story of of the era to provide context for today. From what I understand this is roughly based on the author's undergrad history course at Princeton. I think there can be disagreement with where the authors start. The fault lines cited certainly didn't start in 1974. Racial and gender issues were definitely earlier. Sexual mores have long been changing. Income inequality did start spiking around that time, but did fuel previous political issues. But 1974 was a reasonable starting place.
I listened to this on audiobook, there is not an audiobook edition on goodreads yet. The narration was generally good, but the narrator kept sort of doing impressions of well known politicians that were close enough to be annoying but not close enough to really be accurate. I would have preferred straight reading of the quotes.
My longer thoughts are on my blog at http://bookwi.se/fault-lines/
Pretty much required reading for everyone American alive right now. The “fault lines” thesis is a lil week imo, but it's literally just a book of massively important context for all the polarization we see in the US rn
