Fault Line

Fault Line

Adult nonfiction
"To many observers, Trump's victory revealed a nation deeply
divided. More troublingly, the president-elect had come to power
largely by widening these divisions. In a bruising bare-knuckle
campaign, he had thrown aside the traditional niceties of American
politics and repeatedly taunted both his own party rivals in the race
for the Republican nomination and then his general election opponant
as well. Most ominously, Trump had singled out large segments of
American society for attack..."
Do you feel frustrated that politics today are so vindictive,
vile, vengeful, vicious, and venemous? Do you ever wonder how we got
in this quagmire in the first place? Wonder no longer! Kevin Kruse
and Julian Zelizer are professors at Princeton University. In 2012
they started teaching a class centered around America's history since
1974. After several years of refining their course they decided they
had material for a book, Fault Lines, which came out this year.
Kruse and Zelizer see 1974 as the pivotal year during which
American unity began to show fault lines. The first appeared in
government following the Watergate scandal and its aftermath,
especially Ford's pardon of Nixon. Trust in the economy shattered as
Americans questioned whether they could continue to prosper or even
survive with manufacturing jobs going elsewhere. Blacks, women, and
gays struggled for their rights. And all that was just in the
seventies.
The rest of the book looks at each presidency through the lenses
of the events and movements of that time, their interpretations by
different stakeholders, and the changing customs and technologies that
increasingly divided Americans into red states and blue states where
people not only interpreted truth differently, but perceived different
truths. The accounting is thorough and multifaceted. At the end of
their narrative the authors offer this summary:
"The question that the United States faces as a divided nation
is whether we can harness the intense energy that now drives us apart
and channel it once again toward creating new and stronger bridges
that can bring us closer together. Whether the fault lines of the
past four decades will continue to fracture, or whether these rifts
will finally start to heal, is a chapter yet to come."
One we'll all be involved in writing.
On a purrrsonal note, I survived my first lunch shift following Joey's
death. Anna had a surprise for me. I was serving and teaching a new
student worker. Anna knows teaching new people is my favorite thing
to do at work so she set it up. She said I was helping her, but I
know better. People at work were very kind about my loss. They've
been there. Some shared their stories of losing beloved animal
companions.
Then I came back to the heaviness of a silent empty home. (Eugene is
at his camp). It sucked all the life out of me. I took a few minutes
to look at pictures of precious Joey. Then it was back to shed
cleaning. Home alone makes a great movie premise but a crappy life
reality.
Great big shout outs go out to Anna, my colleagues, and the best
little cat in the world whom I miss desperately.
jules hathaway


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