Dying of whiteness : how the politics of racial resentment is killing America's heartland / Jonathan M. Metzl.

  • Metzl, Jonathan, 1964-
Date:
[2019]
  • Books

About this work

Also known as

How the politics of racial resentment is killing America's heartland

Description

"With the rise of the Tea Party and the election of Donald Trump, many middle- and lower-income white Americans threw their support behind conservative politicians who pledged to make life great again for people like them. But as Dying of Whiteness shows, the right-wing policies that resulted from this white backlash put these voters' very health at risk--and, in the end, threaten everyone's well-being. Physician and sociologist Jonathan M. Metzl travels across America's heartland seeking to better understand the politics of racial resentment and its impact on public health. Interviewing a range of Americans, he uncovers how racial anxieties led to the repeal of gun control laws in Missouri, stymied the Affordable Care Act in Tennessee, and fueled massive cuts to schools and social services in Kansas. Although such measures promised to restore greatness to white America, Metzl's systematic analysis of health data dramatically reveals they did just the opposite: these policies made life sicker, harder, and shorter in the very populations they purported to aid. Thus, white life expectancies fell, gun suicides soared, and school dropout rates rose. Powerful, searing, and sobering, Dying of Whiteness ultimately demonstrates just how much white America would benefit by emphasizing cooperation, rather than chasing false promises of supremacy"--Publisher's description.

Publication/Creation

New York : Basic Books, [2019]

Physical description

viii, 341 pages : black and white illustrations, charts ; 25 cm

Edition

First edition.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-330) and index.

Contents

Introduction: Dying of whiteness -- Part 1: Missouri -- The cape -- Risk -- Interview : I can't just make it go away -- The man card -- Interview : we gotta take up arms -- Preventative medicine -- Interview : the biggest heart -- What was the risk? -- Interview : the whys and what-ifs -- Trigger warnings -- Part 2: Tennessee -- Unaffordable -- Cost -- In the name of affordable care -- Focus -- Socialism -- Everybody -- De-progressive -- The numbers tell the story -- Part 3: Kansas -- Beneath the surface -- There's no place like home -- The Kansas experiment -- Interview : a downward cycle -- Austerity -- Interview : a bad rap -- The schools -- Interview : the race card -- Congestive heart failure -- Interview : no matter what he does -- Millions of millions -- Conclusion: The castle doctrine.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    ZEP.U
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9781541644984
  • 1541644980