BACKBONE: Maverick essays in praise of middle America

Why American Populism Should Be Welcomed, Not Feared

Middle America is in rebellion today. Ordinary people are objecting to bureaucratic coercion, manipulations of speech, redefinitions of sex and family, racial nostrums, strictures on economic freedom, and pressure to conform with new progressive narratives and dictates. Similar revolts are taking place in other developed nations. But America has a special tradition of popular backlash against heavy-handed grandees. This book pulls together rich arguments and evidence from 1994 to 2024 to show that the uprising which returned Donald Trump to the White House has been building for three decades. Reporting and data ignored by conventional media are mixed with vivid storytelling about the lives of everyday citizens. A central conclusion: the working- and middle-class Americans who make up our nation’s backbone possess deep stores of wisdom, decency, and good sense. Is today’s populism dangerous? Or will it pull the U.S. away from decadence, division, and decline? Includes color photos from across the country of people and locales discussed in the text.