Better Off Without 'Em A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession (Audible Audio Edition) Chuck Thompson Oliver Wyman Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : Better Off Without 'Em A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession (Audible Audio Edition) Chuck Thompson Oliver Wyman Audible Studios Books
Let's talk about secession.
Not exactly the most suitable cocktail party conversation starter anywhere in the country. But take that notion deep into the heart of Dixie, and you might find yourself running from the possum-hunting conservatives, trailer-park lifers, and prayer warriors Chuck Thompson encountered during the two years he spent traveling the American South asking the question Would we be better off without 'em?
The result is a heavily researched, serious inquiry into national divides which is unabashedly controversial, often uproarious, and always thought-provoking. From a church service in Mobile, Alabama, where the gospel entertainer announces, "Islam is upon us!" to a store selling Ku Klux Klan memorabilia on a quaint little street in South Carolina - Thompson lifts the green velvet drapes on a South that would seem to belong more to the time of Rhett and Scarlett than the dawn of the twenty-first century.
By crunching numbers, interviewing experts, and roaming the not-so-former Confederacy, Thompson - an openly disgruntled liberal from the Northwest - makes a compelling case for southern secession. What would the new nations look like if Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was elected as the first President of the Confederate States of America? If a southern electorate was left to fend for itself while the North did damage control on an economy decimated by cut-rate southern workers who operate as a rival nation within its own borders? If the BCS championship football game were replaced by a North vs. South Coca Cola/ Starbucks Blood Bowl? If Florida went to the South and Texas to the North in the most complex land-and-population grab in American history?
Better Off Without 'Em is a deliberately provocative book whose insight, humor, fierce and fearless politics, and sheer nerve will spark a national debate that is perhaps long overdue.
Better Off Without 'Em A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession (Audible Audio Edition) Chuck Thompson Oliver Wyman Audible Studios Books
The author really did his homework. He travelled extensively in the South, and most of the experts he consulted, and cites in the excellent bibliography and footnotes, are noted southerners with an expertise in the region and its history. It is VERY funny, with just the right amount of sarcasm and incredulity to make it a fun read, but the underlying message is very clear: the South is still fighting the "War of Northern Aggression," has never gotten over losing, and is now playing a dominant and destructive role in national politics.I contacted the author via email, and asked if there was any hope of an updated edition (alas, no), for although the book was published over a decade ago, it is a prescient view of the worst of the Trump base: obsessed with guns and fundamentalist religion, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-immigrant, poorly educated, and easily distracted by football, Nascar, the NRA, and white nationalism.
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Better Off Without 'Em A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession (Audible Audio Edition) Chuck Thompson Oliver Wyman Audible Studios Books Reviews
A premise that seems shocking becomes more and more palatable as one reads each chapter and the list of sins of the South stack up. The contradictions of Southern ideology and practice make it hard not to quietly pine for the premise, and it would really only formally split the nation that is already behaving as if it were two.
This rude and crude author goes on to explain why the U.S. would be better off without the South. He makes a pretty strong argument too. I've read a lot about the South of the U.S., but this book pulls no punches when highlighting the stupidity of the southern folk. Religion, guns, racism, slavery, are but a few topics written about. All chapters are enjoyable and very easy to read. Not to mention, it makes a lot of sense.
As a Texan, I found this book to be quite amusing. I have to disagree with the author though in separating Texas from the rest of the South. Seriously, you ever been there? All jokes aside, the book seems to me to be well researched, and is choked full of excellent arguing points that I wish I would have known going to college at one of the big state universities. Sometimes it hit so close to home that I would audibly sigh and shake my head in frustration. The separatist mentality isn't going to solve all of our qualms, but at least we can get a few chuckles along the way with books like this.
This is a "must-read" for anyone who feels they are a patriot, who is concerned about America and wishes to understand more about some of the major things that prevent us from becoming that truly great country we all think should be so easy to achieve given our substantial wealth. Our cultural diversity, not ethnic diversity, remains an anchor on our aspirations. Chuck Thompson's well documented tome' sheds considerable light on what is perhaps our largest problem.
This is the 3rd book I've read by Thompson, and the most serious of the 3. While the other two were more to my liking (they were lighthearted books delivered with a smart ass wit and sarcasm which had me smirking the whole time-- "Smile While You're Lying" and "To Hellholes and Back") this was obviously a heavy topic, and sad at times. As a sociologist, someone who's traveled quite a bit, and someone who's lived in the South most of her life, issues of race and its perception in this country are of huge interest to me. I picked up this book though for 4 reasons 1) I believe Thompson to be above-avg intelligent; 2) he calls a spade a spade; 3) I love his writing style; and 4) I was really interested in hearing about the perspective of someone who only knew of the South, and had few direct experiences within the South or Southerners. I don't seem to come across those kinds of people that often.
While the South gets a bad rap on a lot of things lower test scores, obesity, religious and often close mindedness, obsessed with football, being nuts about guns-- just a few things; Thompson decided to go and spend some time traveling around (for a year, I think) trying to get a better understanding of many Southerner's mindsets and thought process.
Even I was blown away by a lot of the scenarios and situations he came across. The chapter on the education system in the South though really broke my heart. I know that a lot of Southerners may feel offended by some of what Thompson tells about, but I would suspect that those are people who've never spent their lives living up North or on the West coast where these tales are only known to them from civil war chapters of history books. I have a friend from Colorado who can't even watch "Django", even those it's a satire, because she can't wrap her mind around the fact that people would even feel empowered to own and disrespect another human being.
The South has its issues and Thompson does a great job at analyzing them and telling you how they affect the country as a whole, and our image around the world. If you're fairly open-minded, not easily offended especially when facts are there to back up a case, and appreciate a straight forward delivery, then I'd recommend this book to you. If you're a bit sensitive, you may think Thompson comes across as in-your-face and may want to keep browsing.
This book is belly aching funny, I have been saying to my friends for years that we should encourage the south to separate and have their own nation.
As a Northerner who has now lived 1/4 of my life in Tennessee, I was curious about this book. Over the course of a few hundred pages, Thompson makes a lot of valid, fact-based arguments for the idea that the South (mostly the former Confederacy) and the North are culturally, ideologically, politically, and socio-economically two different countries that would actually be better off separating themselves from each other. Unfortunately, every valid argument is immediately undermined with vicious (but often funny) sarcasm and vituperative hatred of all things below the Mason-Dixon line. Thompson is unable to find a single positive thing about the South in his hundreds of pages of interviews and visits, so this book only serves to alienate the Southern half of the audience. The South is not a perfect place, but neither is the North, and painting one side as fully negative in every possible way does not present a balanced argument.
The author really did his homework. He travelled extensively in the South, and most of the experts he consulted, and cites in the excellent bibliography and footnotes, are noted southerners with an expertise in the region and its history. It is VERY funny, with just the right amount of sarcasm and incredulity to make it a fun read, but the underlying message is very clear the South is still fighting the "War of Northern Aggression," has never gotten over losing, and is now playing a dominant and destructive role in national politics.
I contacted the author via email, and asked if there was any hope of an updated edition (alas, no), for although the book was published over a decade ago, it is a prescient view of the worst of the Trump base obsessed with guns and fundamentalist religion, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-immigrant, poorly educated, and easily distracted by football, Nascar, the NRA, and white nationalism.
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