A nation wide but an inch deep

This was not the book I anticipated. I first saw this on the desk of someone at work. I quickly found the book on Amazon and bought it. Sitting there on my shelf for almost 4 years I had assumed this book would focus on white poverty of old coal and oil towns. Towns where the American dream was sucked dry by corporate greed, opioids and happenstance. While this book did include that it was a little less focused on white poverty and instead focused on the economic realities of modern America.

Well written and engaging the biggest issue I had with this book was that it was so shallow, given the potential depth of the topic. No deep dives into why this poverty exists. There were cursory examinations of the topics found in this book it was all seemingly written by a wry, talented high school conservative with an axe to grind against his peers and the world around him. A self amused Alex P Keaton who frames Antifa as aimless, concerns about Fracking as overblown and finds flat-earthers equal parts amusing and alarming.

Parts of the book detail his own rise from poverty and eventual efforts to help his mom and step father but finds that they spend their considerable retirement on frivolous things. Kevin, the author, seems to know and understand there are huge global factors that lead to poverty but also finds the time and energy to blame the poor for their circumstance, at least partly. Detailing trips to Atlantic City by the elderly to spend their money, government benefits and remaining time on earth.

The strangest part of the book were the last two chapters. Seeming to be inspired by real frustration and channeling the best storytellers there is a full chapter about the hypocrisy of whiteness in America framed through class consciousness and a surgical take down of Trump and why he is so popular. William F. Buckley Jr would have been proud of the defense of the brand of conservatism that promoted self reliance, class and social responsibility instead of the crass, rude, immature "finger in your eye" (my phrase, not his) politics that festered in Trump's America. And the last chapter felt like prose, an exercise in talent and observation and doing it just because he could like a gymnast doing handstands at the bar to impress those who happen to see your soles in the air.

I think this would work best as a discussion piece for a book club. I did enjoy it and would recommend it to most of my friends. The lack of depth, however, will keep this book from anything more than an 'also ran' in the summary of books I read in 2026.