Wildland

The Making of America's Fury

By: Evan Osnos

Narrated by: Evan Osnos

Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

This program is read by the author.

"Evan Osnos compassionately shares his extensive research on the crumbling of American democracy, civility, and equality. Listeners join him as he visits three diverse places he has lived: wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut; segregated Chicago; and coal-mining Clarksburg, West Virginia." (AudioFile)

"One of the books of the year.... Wildland by The New Yorker's Evan Osnos draws the backstory to America's rage through deep reporting and 'thousands of hours of conversations' in three places he lived before DC." (Axios)

After a decade abroad, the National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Evan Osnos returns to three places he has lived in the United States - Greenwich, CT; Clarksburg, WV; and Chicago, IL - to illuminate the origins of America’s political fury.

Evan Osnos moved to Washington, DC, in 2013 after a decade away from the United States, first as the Beijing bureau chief at the Chicago Tribune and then as the China correspondent for The New Yorker. While abroad, he often found himself making a case for America, urging the citizens of Egypt, Iraq, or China to trust that even though America had made grave mistakes throughout its history, it aspired to some foundational moral commitments - the rule of law, the power of truth, the right of equal opportunity for all. But when he returned to the United States, he found each of these principles under assault.

In search of an explanation for the crisis that reached an unsettling crescendo in 2020 - a year of pandemic, civil unrest, and political turmoil - he focused on three places he knew firsthand: Greenwich, Connecticut; Clarksburg, West Virginia; and Chicago, Illinois. Reported over the course of six years, Wildland follows ordinary individuals as they navigate the varied landscapes of 21st-century America. Through their powerful, often poignant stories, Osnos traces the sources of America’s political dissolution. He finds answers in the rightward shift of the financial elite in Greenwich; in the collapse of social infrastructure and possibility in Clarksburg; and in the compounded effects of segregation and violence in Chicago. The truth about the state of the nation may be found not in the slogans of political leaders but in the intricate details of individual lives, and in the hidden connections between them. As Wildland weaves in and out of these personal stories, events in Washington occasionally intrude, like flames licking up on the horizon.

A dramatic, prescient examination of seismic changes in American politics and culture, Wildland is the story of a crucible, a period bounded by two shocks to America’s psyche, two assaults on the country’s sense of itself: the attacks of September 11th in 2001 and the storming of the US Capitol, on January 6th, 2021. Following the lives of everyday Americans, in three cities, across two decades, Osnos illuminates the country in a startling light. revealing how we lost the moral confidence to see ourselves as larger than the sum of our parts. 

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

©2021 Evan Osnos (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2021

L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist, 2022

"Stellar reporting. ... As an overview of a fractious ideological landscape, this skillful treatment is hard to beat. An elegant survey of the causes and effects of polarization in America." (Kirkus, starred review)  

"Incisive. ... An engrossing and revealing look at how deeply connected yet far apart Americans are." (Publishers Weekly) 

"Through clear, engrossing writing, [Evan Osnos] gives shape to the past 20 years." (Christopher Borrelli, The Chicago Tribune)

More of a painting than analysis

What I felt lacking in this book may be exactly what some will appreciate most. The author uses his unique perspective as a recently returning American from years abroad to paint several vignettes to explain of how far his homeland, by 2013 when he returned, had descended into bitter political division. The writing and performance, both by the author, are excellent as description. The vivid details of many of the characters in these vignettes attest to hours of interviews and patient studies of their lives for which the author is to be commended.

Mr Osnos undoubtedly has a broad base of knowledge of American history based on the many historical facts and references sprinkled throughout the work. However, the work overall doesn’t seem to add to much more than an impressionist’s painting our country’s woefully divided condition.

Full disclosure demands that I admit, I have written this review after skipping several of the later chapters, hoping for a summation in the final 2 chapters which would compel me to go back and reread and pick up the the ones I missed. But in the absence of any conclusions or prescription that seemed to require any supporting justifications, I will leave my bookmark where it is.

Beautiful, albeit sad, recounting of modern day America

This book is a terrific expose of modern day America. By “profiling” three very different places, Osnos illuminated the systemic fault lines in our society. The way the author weaved in his personal history was masterful and kept me engaged as the story weaved through the past decade of American political history. This book reminded me a lot of George Packer’s The Unwinding. If you liked that book, I recommend this one too. The one downside is the stark reminder that there is perhaps no solution to our problems. Osnos closes with some vague references to our communities and hope in the future; but it is not very concrete. Then again, perhaps there is no concrete solution to our current divisions. Highly recommend this book!

Knowing what you are struggling against, helps!

It’s something to hear plainly and with full supporting evidence the things you intrinsically understand must be happening and must have happened, to move us to this point of great discontent in America. I once read interviews of slaves in America where some said they often considered poor whites in the south to be even below them, based on the degraded situation in which poor white families lived. America has had its heel on the neck of blacks and poor whites for most of its existence. For blacks it was never denied, poor whites experiencing the same seem never sure what or whom they were struggling against, that is crazy making.

fantastic

beautifully written
compelling selection of stories to illustrate each point. highly recommend to anyone who wants a richer look at what the hell is going on

You can't get more descriptive than this.

This my second book by Evan Osnos. The first was so good that I bought this one on name alone. It did not disappoint. The facts are laid out plain and simple. It should be required reading for all high school and college students.

Extraordinary

Without hesitation, this the finest analysis of the 2017 to 2021 U.S. sociopolitical history as yet written. It is not about Trump as much as it is about the unhinged reality of those years that emerged from Trump’s leaving behind what is yet to be left behind. All told using the author’s West Virginia background as a backdrop. The author’s Audible narration is superb.

Cover too many issues. Break into Segments

Good but should have been broken into segments by time, issue location. Your insights are excellent. Well done. Charlie, Chicago

Excellent!

This is “American carnage” from a liberal perspective. But it’s convincing: based on personal observation and reporting, deep research and an admirable moral sense. It’s a book everyone should read, regardless of political orientation. It describes vividly the gaps between rich and poor, black and white, honorable and corrupt, and why the current US political system benefits the former and cheats the
latter.

Impressive book!

This could be a textbook in it’s analysis of our current ordeal. Very well done!

Timely

Facts needed now in current political climate as serious divisions continue. Evan Osnos is an excellent reporter and writer.