"Few do so as deftly as Beth Macy's new book, " Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America." Throughout her career as a journalist, Macy has covered rural poverty and corporate greed. Her 2014 book, " Factory Man," followed a Virginia furniture-maker's fight against Chinese offshoring; in 2018, she published " Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America," an investigation of the opioid crisis that was subsequently adapted into a Hulu series."
"If "Dopesick" captured the rural discontent that was festering before 2016, then "Paper Girl" might be seen as its spiritual sequel, focussing on how Trump's Presidency left the nation even more fragmented. This time, Macy gets personal, using her deeply red home town of Urbana, Ohio, as a ground zero for understanding right-wing radicalization. Rather than dismiss her religious sister or her conspiratorial ex-boyfriend, Macy digs deeper, excavating a topsy-turvy world where many people still believe that Trump won the 2020 election."
Urbana, Ohio serves as ground zero for right-wing radicalization, showing how Trump's presidency intensified national fragmentation. Rural poverty, corporate offshoring, and the opioid crisis are linked to political anger and economic despair. Familial relationships reveal religious animosity, personal grudges, and class resentment that widen social fractures. Persistent belief in the 2020 election's falsehoods demonstrates entrenched conspiratorial thinking in some communities. Many residents hold onto Trump-era narratives, complicating efforts to restore mutual respect. The situation underscores the difficulty of maintaining hope and the need to struggle for community cohesion amid deep political and cultural divides.
Read at The New Yorker
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