Since the 2016 election, America’s great political divide seems to be getting wider. Democrats and Republicans have grown further apart, and the national conversation has shifted away from cooperation and compromise. Renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild seeks to find common ground in our desire for community, our embrace of family and our hopes for a better future that we can all share.

In Strangers in Their Own Land, Hochschild embarks on a journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country―a stronghold of the conservative Right. She challenges the idea that people are voting against their own interests. Instead, Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of sociology to help us understand what it feels like to live in "red" America and how we can grow into a united America.