Very informative, research packed book. I learned a lot from the information but felt powerless to enact any noticeable change. I hope the right people read this book so future elections can be positively affected. Thank you to NetGalley for ARC of audiobook!

#Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back integrates research, anecdotes, and frankly a bit of pluck to describe how the far right has strategically taken up the culture war. The book is timely as it is situated right after the results of the 2024 elections, including some of the results of the House and Senate races. This book is not written for the working class; it’s written for the college-educated progressives on one side of the “diploma divide.”

The author does a good job of providing some success stories, namely Democrats that won contentious or red-leaning working class elections (e.g. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, John Fetterman, and Gretchen Whitmer), and how some of these success stories might be replicated. A major example is how the country completely shifted on gay marriage in just a few decades. She weaves aspects of racism, sexism, religiosity, homophobia/heterosexism, even geography into a larger argument that socioeconomic status is the primary unifier amongst groups. I do think it’s a bit overly simplistic, particularly with how those intersectional identities both shape and have been shaped by socioeconomic status. The author doesn’t ignore these, but perhaps downsizes them to highlight her larger points. For what it’s worth, the author also acknowledges that this book is not going to help the Left win those who are entrenched in white nationalism, but rather those who are truly more middle ground (which in her view is the economically disadvantaged).

For a book about stats and political anecdotes, both the author and the narrator kept me engaged regardless of how much I agreed or disagreed, no easy feat in a nearly 400-page audiobook! Each chapter felt like listening to a podcast (truly mean that in the best way!) and call me a nerd but I loved the key points recap at the end of each chapter!

Do I think this is a singular solution to bridge the diploma divide? Absolutely not. But I do think it provides a few steps on that bridge, and certainly provides some insightful and compelling counterpoints to far right talking points.

This book may appeal to those who liked: NIckel and Dimed, Cost of Living, White Rural Rage

Reviewed as part of #ARC from #NetGalley. Many thanks to Macmillan Audio/St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review.

Disclosure: I listened to the audiobook and did not have access to the print version, so I have not (yet) reviewed the author’s sources.

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This review will be posted to Instagram @AutobiographiCole on or around the release date!

Honestly I was surprised to see the heavily negative reviews for this book when I finished because I very much liked it. I have already used information I have learned from this in conversations I've had about politics and why we are where we're at today. I already inherently agreed with Williams' thesis that Democrats need to get back to representing the people and not just academic elites, so I guess that could have biased me. This book is also severely information heavy - I enjoyed that, myself. I think this book was, honestly, written for people who are actually working in politics, rather than the average reader. The audio format of this was well done and made the info-dumping easier to digest.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.