Given all the bad news lately, I wasn’t sure I would be able to read a book about the present “slow civil war” but once I started, I couldn't put it down. The subject matter is difficult, emotional and scary, and yet, because Jeff Sharlet manages to make the stories personal—to himself and the person he is writing about—I was drawn in.
I appreciate how Jeff asks questions, not just what happened, but why? How? What is she thinking? How is he feeling? What do you expect? What do you fear? He is not pulling at emotions, but rather allowing them to surface, to be explored within these detailed portraits. When interviewing new people – ministers, motorcyclists, moms – he is hearing and listening, and interpreting or discerning (to use a preacher’s choice of words) to try to understand their world views. Reading The Undertow is like having a fascinating conversation with a wise and caring friend.
And Jeff’s prose is nothing short of gorgeous, all the more stunning in contrast to the ugly racism and classism; unforgiving religion and faith; polarized politics and society; and raw anger and grief that is under consideration. I started copying out phrases and paragraphs, but there were way too many to share here!
In his travels, Jeff put himself on the line to help readers like me—concerned, confused, and discouraged—grasp how we have gotten to where we are in this country and understand how we might, with effort, find a better way forward. His hope is “...that this book may reveal fault lines within our fears, in which others will find the better words our children may one day sing.”
Addendum: I wrote this piece in late April after reading The Undertow. Much has happened since, and it seems clear there are actors on the nation’s political scene who are intent on creating chaos and promoting dissonance to sow fear and speed the slow civil war Jeff describes. The Undertow helps pull back the curtain on these actions, like Toto in the Wizard of Oz. We must pay close attention to the con men—and women—“behind the curtain.”
Liza Bernard is a voracious reader who enjoys both printed volumes and audiobooks. Formerly co-owner of the Norwich Bookstore, she maintains her connections with readers and writers as the Programming and Marketing Librarian at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, Vermont.