MixedThe New York Times Book Review\"Its analysis, based on old polling and news clips, is interminable, marred by some cable-news-style exaggeration and not particularly original. Victor Davis Hanson does, however, explain in passing and in the book’s concluding two chapters why he thinks Trump has been a good president, and this argument has some genuine merit and originality ... Except for detailing Trump’s success in boosting the economy, Hanson does not argue these points against obvious objections ... Most of Hanson’s book was written before the 2018 election and does not seem to have been substantially revised in the light of the Republican defeats.\
Arlie Russell Hochschild
MixedThe NationUnlike many contemporary social scientists, she doesn’t rely on statistical studies, the prevailing 'literature,' or newspaper clips. Instead, Hochschild went to Louisiana and talked to people—and not just for a couple of days, but for over half a decade ... [However] by giving so much prominence to their worldview’s emotional sources, her important new book ends up reinforcing—rather than bridging—the gap between her own convictions and those of the people she set out to understand ... Hochschild’s portrayal of Southwest Louisiana is extremely poignant ... But the central problem with Hochschild’s analysis is that she places too much emphasis on the Tea Party’s deep story.
