Evan Osnos' Wildland is a fascinating and illuminating look at the political fury of Americans in the first decades of the 21st century. This book builds slowly but powerfully as Osnos reviews the different strands of American life - the deepening divide of economic inequality, unequal access to medical care, racial injustice, drugs and gun violence - that have torn at ordinary Americans over the last 20 years and built up into the fury of the Trump years.

Osnos, a reporter for the New Yorker, returned to America in 2013 after spending a number of years on assignment abroad. Once back in Washington DC, he began to explore the lives of everyday Americans in three different cities he had connections to - Greenwich, Connecticut; Chicago, Illinois; and Clarksburg, West Virginia. The stories of these Americans form the basis for this book.

In the book Osnos follows a hedge fund manager, a small town newspaper editor, a community activist, and many others. Out of these stories a theme emerges of justice and fairness not only unfound, but systematically denied. In each story the impacts of American capitalism and politics are not uplifting, but rather cold, unfeeling and disheartening.

Another animating theme of these stories is that disconnection among Americans has become acute. We no longer identify with our local communities or are even aware of issues important to our neighborhood, town or city. As local newspapers have faded away and we've turned to the internet for information, many of us are more knowledgeable and animated by events happening nationally.

This book ties strands together from 9/11 through the housing crash of 2008 right up to today. The overall picture it paints is not pretty. Osnos seems to feel that America after Trump understands that many of the issues Trump highlighted in his first campaign were real and in need of addressing, even if Trump himself had no answers and failed to address them. Osnos points to signs of local activism and political involvement (particularly in the case of grassroots organizing in West Virginia) as hope that Americans will find a way to right our course.

There is not a grand conclusion to this book, and I think that's appropriate. While Osnos did a great job illuminating how we got to the current point, where we go from here is yet to be decided, and so better to let events play out.

For anyone interested in understanding the American political realities of today I recommend Wildland. I rate this book Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

NOTE: I received this book through Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Just finished reading this wonderfully written, incisive book. #Wildland #EvanOsnos #netgalley

I don't write long reviews for IG, just a brief sentence with a cover image. I liked this book a lot but it
took me a long time to read it.

America’s Political Dysfunction

Our country is at a crisis point. Osnos dates the problem from September 11th when the United States was shocked by being attacked by terrorists flying planes into our iconic buildings. The anger was real and hasn’t abated. It has led to political divisions where people have become less and less able to see the other person’s point of view.

To try to get an understanding of what was going on in the country and what people were thinking, Osnos centered on three locations he was familiar with, Creenwich, Connecticut, Clasksburg, West Virginia and Chicago, Illinois. These three areas cover a broad spectrum of American communities. Greenwich is the home of the very rich, Clarksburg shows rural poverty, and Chicago is the urban city filled with crime and poverty. Interviewing people in these locations Osnos was able to give a broad view of the emotions driving our political divide.

I found this a very important and interesting book. Clearly our country is in trouble. This can be seen in the way people are responding to the Covid crisis. There is little to no tolerance for the ideas of others. Vaccinated individuals are ready to kill the unvaccinated. It even carries over into whether scientific research showing divergent views can be tolerated. I found Osnos book very helpful in understanding where these viewpoints are coming from and how they affect the current climate.

I received this book from NetGalley for this review.

Reading this book on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, which was a major origin point for what Osnos's discusses, definitely made for interesting timing which I'm sure was intentional based on the book's release date tomorrow. Much of the territory covered in this book has been covered elsewhere, but this book is unique for pulling some of these disparate areas together into one volume. Personally, I have read a lot of books and articles about towns like Clarksburg, WV since 2016, but the chapters on Greenwich, CT were very interesting to me. The way that Osnos weaves the narratives of these different parts of the country was also very interesting and tells a more complete story of "how we got here" than many other accounts. I definitely would recommend this book as one that treads new ground on a topic that seems to be common these days in literature and print.

Very long - very winding book. Very hard to read. The author would start to build to a good discussion - then get sidetracked by a story that really didn't help the discussion at all - often going off into a different direction. It was very hard to follow and not at all what I was hoping for.

"There was always just enough virtue in this republic to save it; sometimes none to spare."

I cannot shake how deeply illuminating and unsettling this book was for me. "Wildland" provides the context for the past 20 years of political undoing in America--from 9/11 to the Jan. 6th Capitol insurrection--and, as uncomfortable as it was to read, the insights within these pages are indispensable.

Evan Osnos returned to the US after living nearly a decade abroad in China. The catalyst for this book are the seismic rifts in American politics he noticed once he settled in Washington, D.C. While there are many anecdotes and news pieces from across the country, the book is based in Osnos's connections to three American cities: Chicago, IL; Clarksburg, WV; and Greenwich, CT. These are the roots of Osnos's narrative, and from these three distinct vantage points, we witness a similar unraveling of American culture, community, and politics.

I was most impressed by the author's ability to provide tell-tale stories that both capture the humanity of their subjects while also eliciting a deep sense of empathy and shared anguish among them, too. Our struggles are different in each community: Hedge funders and financiers must contend with their shallow lives and moral erosions; disaffected coal miners must try to comprehend a state that puts money and politics above its own competence and constituents; and segregated residents must try to envision a life for themselves beyond the hood, even as every socio-economic and political force tries to prevent them from doing so.

As many times as I wanted to look away from the reality this book was bringing to my attention, I kept realizing that it was that same willed ignorance to avoid our common anguish that has pushed so many people in this country to its political extremes. This book will leave you tired and speechless; but, if it is effective in its message to fight this lethargic status quo by generating greater political activity within our local communities, then it can be inspiring, too.

A truly eye-opening, disheartening, and yet quietly inspiring book.

Wow. Taking the reader step by step from 9/11/01 to 1/6/21…what happened to change our country from that post 9/11 feeling of national unity to the divisions that led to the horrific attack on 1/6. This wonderfully-written book highlights a few different areas of the country during this time frame showing what has contributed to the seismic divide we currently have. I found this book FASCINATING. It’s long and dense at times, and this isn’t a negative thing. It’s full. Read this one. Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advanced copy.

3.5 stars. A really interesting read. Osnos looks at the history of America through three distinct places: Clarksburg, WV; Chicago; and Greenwich, CT. Focusing on race and socio-economic status, Osnos leads the reader up and through the events of April 2021, showing how festering issues in America led to the fire of divisiveness accelerated by the Trump presidency.

"Evan Osnos moved to Washington, D.C., in 2013 after a decade away from the United States, first reporting from the Middle East before becoming the Beijing bureau chief at the Chicago Tribune and then the China correspondent for The New Yorker. While abroad, he often found himself making a case for America, urging the citizens of Egypt, Iraq, or China to trust that even though America had made grave mistakes throughout its history, it aspired to some foundational moral commitments: the rule of law, the power of truth, the right of equal opportunity for all. But when he returned to the United States, he found each of these principles under assault.

In search of an explanation for the crisis that reached an unsettling crescendo in 2020—a year of pandemic, civil unrest, and political turmoil—he focused on three places he knew firsthand: Greenwich, Connecticut; Clarksburg, West Virginia; and Chicago, Illinois. Reported over the course of six years, Wildland follows ordinary individuals as they navigate the varied landscapes of twenty-first-century America. Through their powerful, often poignant stories, Osnos traces the sources of America’s political dissolution. He finds answers in the rightward shift of the financial elite in Greenwich, in the collapse of social infrastructure and possibility in Clarksburg, and in the compounded effects of segregation and violence in Chicago. The truth about the state of the nation may be found not in the slogans of political leaders but in the intricate details of individual lives, and in the hidden connections between them. As Wildland weaves in and out of these personal stories, events in Washington occasionally intrude, like flames licking up on the horizon.

A dramatic, prescient examination of seismic changes in American politics and culture, Wildland is the story of a crucible, a period bounded by two shocks to America’s psyche, two assaults on the country’s sense of itself: the attacks of September 11 in 2001 and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Following the lives of everyday Americans in three cities and across two decades, Osnos illuminates the country in a startling light, revealing how we lost the moral confidence to see ourselves as larger than the sum of our parts."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange fcor my honest review.

Wildland was a good read but it was a little long-winded for my tastes. I was hoping for a more riveting read but all the rambling side stories, which have been better if this were an autobiography or a work of fiction, took away from the original thesis.
I can't say there was anything else wrong with the story except each time I started to get into it, my attention waned and I found myself frustrated that I had to wait, seemingly forever, for the author to get to his point. An interesting read that I wish I enjoyed more.

To read this book is to experience the decades building to the current period of upheaval and unrest in the United States. To those interested in the history of the Koch Brothers and that family's engagement in this period, this book is a must.

The differences in people and how they live - in Chicago, Clarksburg, and Greenwich – as reported by Evan Osnos, provokes both thought and concern about the values and beliefs held by Americans today. It is a difficult book to read, especially if lack of exposure to and interaction with a variety of people keeps one relatively isolated. And, yet, the stories are essential to understanding the extent and cost of how these diverse perspectives impact life in the US today. Wildland is not a quick read. Thoughtful contemplation adds depth to Osnos’ commentary.

This is a difficult book to read, actually kind of depressing. The author pretty accurately represents what is going on in this country. I guess that is the purpose of this book..

WILDLAND by Evan Osnos is meant to be about "The Making of America's Fury" and Osnos, an award-winning author and journalist, uses his personal experience of returning to the States in 2013 to frame his analysis. He writes in detail about three locales: Greenwich, CT; Clarksburg, WV; and Chicago, IL. in order to describe the origins of America's political fury. I was curious to see what he had to say, especially about Chicago, but found there was simply too much background information. I did not have the patience for him to get to his point ... did these cities/regions differ in their attitudes? Why or why not? Were the causes primarily economic or something else? What new insight was this brilliant and capable writer adding? Osnos writes: "in this book, I ask of my own country some of the questions I once asked of China…" And, he notes, "the chasms between American lives had become so vast that the vanishing common ground could no longer carry the weight of American institutions." Sadly, we see the consequences daily and Osnos' book is an attempt (perhaps too loosely structured?) to describe how we lost the ability to meet in agreement after open argument and how we might recover that skill. Decide for yourself - WILDLAND received a starred review from Kirkus.

I like the idea of this book but found that jumping around from past to present with a jumble of names and half told stories was confusing and hard to get into.

Wildland The Making of America's Fury by Evan Osnos was an interesting read and I found it really insightful.

Since the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, we are awash in a tidal wave of books from political insiders and pundits, making it ever more difficult to choose a book or two to help us understand how America became so dangerous and divided. Former foreign correspondent and a Pulitzer-Prize-winning investigative reporter, Evan Osnos, now based in Washington, D.C., provides a unique, startling, eye-opening look at the forces that have brought us to this precipice. His is the book you should read for a strong grasp of the three main issues that throughout our history have driven the divide that has only grown wider and deeper today: income inequality, uneven health-care access, and racism.

From 2014 up through April 2021, Osnos traveled to three representative states to interview a sampling of nineteen individuals from three cities he himself has lived and worked in: Clarksburg, West Virginia, a proud coal-mining town in Appalachia with a storied history now marred by extreme poverty and opioid addiction; Chicago, where gun crimes are rampant and segregation is pronounced, despite having given rise to our nation’s first black President; and Greenwich, Connecticut, the “hedge fund capital of the world” and the epitome of income extremes. Through a vivid literary journalistic style, the author weaves the threads of these individuals’ lives into the cloth of historical events to show how the disruptions, dysfunctions, and displacements extant in America today are the “culmination of forces that had been gathering for decades.”

The theme of justice lies at the heart of this book. In an interesting twist, Osnos looks back at a violent assault that nearly took the life of his great-grandfather on the South Side of Chicago in the early 1900s and contrasts it with recent crimes by minorities and what becomes of their perpetrators. He seeks out the descendants of the white man who assaulted his great-grandfather to learn how they fared and starkly contrasts their lives with those that typify members from the minority community who commit crimes and their kin. It’s as remarkable and damning a portrait of disparity and whose lives matter most to society as any ever written.

The book’s ending seems at first disappointing and unsatisfying. But as one ponders why such a meticulous, skilled reporter would leave loose ends, it becomes clear that he intends for the story to dangle, as it were, because the saga continues, and entrenched problems that place our democracy in a precarious state remain unresolved…waiting to see who or what will fill the divide.

This review is based on an electronic galley provided for free by the publisher.

An interesting look at the political division of the United States. While I think Osnos stretches a tad to include personal experiences into the narrative at times, this is a good primer for those interested in learning why the nation is the way it is.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sharing the ARC of this upcoming nonfiction title. Excellent reporting here. I found the book quite dense, for lack of a better term, yet was compelled to continue reading to the end. I liked the concept of approaching the current situation from 3 varying perspectives, geographical and class. And I feel like I learned a lot. But in the end, I came away unsatisfied. It seems like the grand conclusions pulling together all this fantastic reporting were missing. There’s a few pages at the end that try to summarize and pull the threads together, yet I felt like more needed to be said.

Although Osnos' book about how between September 11 and January 6 Americans "lost their vision for the common good" can feel at times like a stitched-together compilation of his 'New Yorker' reporting, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The country-hopping approach, from West Virginia to Chicago to Greenwich, provides a wealth of vivid backdrops and dramatic examples of how even just in the past two decades the social contract appears to have been shredded. Osnos is not necessarily as downbeat as a George Packer (whose 'The Unwinding' provides a kind of template here) about the nation's prospects. He makes a point of zeroing in on the people fighting to turn the tide of inequality and to stitch back together the social fabric. But all the signs he illuminates, from the new culture of "zero-sum" political combat to the increasingly callous brutality of the new American capitalism, point in the wrong direction. A book whose lessons will be ignored at our own peril.

How did we get to this moment in American politics? That’s the question that esteemed journalist Evan Osnos is examining in “Wildland”. Osnos centers his perspective around three very different locales – Greenwich, CT, rural West Virginia, and Chicago’s South Side – drawing connections between the economic 1% and those near the bottom of the 99% to uncover how corporate greed, economic and racial inequality, and an ever-weakening social safety net contribute to the simmering fear and anger percolating in the United States.

Thank goodness I read this on my Kindle, because there are so many perfectly applicable statistics and quotes that I’d have worn out multiple highlighters trying to capture the many points that resonated with me. Osnos paints a compelling and compassionate picture of individual Americans while tying them to overall political dysfunction, weaving a thread from 9/11 to the 2008 recession, through the rise of Trump, the pandemic, and the attack on our nation’s capital. Although the narrative is often bleak, it also glimmers with hope for a better future.