"The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore" by Jared Yates Sexton

Have you ever chosen a book simply because the title was irresistible?  (Case in point:  "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons" by Lorna Landvik.  I bought it years ago because, well, how could I not, with that glorious title??  I still haven't read it, though..!)

When I saw "The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage" by Jared Yates Sexton on the bookstore shelf, I had to pull it out for a closer look, simply because of the amazing (if rather ominous-sounding) title.  The cover design pulled me in further (not to mention the subject matter). The author's name sounded vaguely familiar:  he's a creative writing professor at Georgia Southern University and the author of several short story collections, whose journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, Politico, The Daily Beast, Salon and The Globe and Mail.

I bought the book. And started reading it, not too long afterwards.

"The People Are Going to Rise" is Sexton's personal account and analysis of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, which he followed -- on both the Democratic & Republican sides, with the Green Party thrown in for good measure -- for several different publications. (Parts of the book originally appeared in those articles.)

Sexton leans left politically, but grew up in a working-class family in Indiana. He understood where Trump rally attendees were coming from -- even if what he saw and heard there left him shaken. After his live tweets from one Trump rally went viral, he began receiving death threats. He used alcohol to cope.  (One Goodreads reviewer quipped, "I really worry about Jared Yates Sexton's liver.") The rage he witnessed and writes about here was also evident on the left (Democrat/Green) side of the equation.  (The title of the book comes from a chalk-drawn sidewalk sign he saw at the Democratic National Convention.)

I would recommend this book for anyone wanting a thoughtful, well-written and readable account of what happened in 2016 and why, with a bit of a personal flavour.

I gave "The People Are Going to Rise" 4 stars on Goodreads. My rating might have been a bit higher, but there were several glaring errors in spelling/usage that marred my complete enjoyment (? -- if that's the right word...!) of an otherwise fine and important book (and yes, I'm that picky, lol). It could have used a good proofreading.

Sexton recently published a new book -- "The Man They Wanted Me to Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Own Making" -- which is billed as part memoir and part cultural analysis. I've already bought it and started reading it. :)

This was book #20 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 83% of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 9 (!!) books ahead of schedule to meet my goal. :)