This fascinating atlas reveals a new and surprising picture of America in the twenty-first century. Packed with beautifully designed maps and graphics and incisive essays, it examines the most cherished ideals about American life to see how they measure up to the realities: Who votes for whom? Are McMansions really taking over? Where do soldiers come from? How are women faring in the recession? Are there any wild open spaces left in America?
It matters where you live in the US: foreclosures, the minimum wage, marriage and divorce, gay rights, access to health all vary across the nation. It matters who you are in the US: Native American women, white men, homeless children, and new immigrants don’t necessarily live in the same America. This is an essential resource for anyone wanting up-to-date information about the United States. Look inside the book here.
Co-authored with Joni Seager
The Millions: Staff pick
26 July 2011If you’re thinking about taking a road trip in America this summer, you might want to consider leaving the GPS and the Rand McNally at home and, in their place, packing this bewitching new book. This idiosyncratic travel guide will reveal how life is lived today in any state you happen to pass through. By the time you finish digesting the book’s short essays, colorful graphics, charts and maps, you’ll understand that the 50 states were not created equal. Geography does matter. Enormously. Where The Real State of America Atlas truly shines is in its demolition of the notion – the enduring fantasy – that America is a land of equal opportunity, a place where boundless bounty awaits anyone who is willing to work hard and play by the rules. With a relentless parade of statistics, the authors make a compelling case that the playing field is far from level and the American Dream is, increasingly, becoming the destiny of the privileged few as it slips beyond the reach of most members of the middle class. Forget about the poor... Enloe and Seager have produced a timely reminder that America is a place where the deck is stacked, where the rich keep getting richer, and where nothing is going to change until the members of the great, duped, sinking middle class wake up and realize they’ve been sold a bill of goods.
View sourceThe Village Voice
25 May 2011'The Real State of America Atlas delivers a riveting portrait of an America that doesn’t always live up to its ideals. Real State maps the USA’s patterns in religion, race, politics, the minimum wage, the dwindling lands of Native Americans, the proliferation of guns, the most environmentally dangerous areas, the number of missing nuclear weapons, among many other hot-button subjects — daring us to confront the facts. This utterly fascinating (and surprisingly slim) atlas is comfortable bearing the weight of America on its back.
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