Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

Find one example of an empathy wall detailed in this text. How does it impact belief formation and political division?

Do some research on the Tea Party. How do its ideas, ideals, and goals differ from mainstream Republican ideology today?

How does the author argue that individuals should go about bridging the political divide? What strategies does she use to understand people better whose views she disagrees with?

Besides environmental pollution, what is another example in the text of a keyhole issue that could be used to understand the position of one political party or another?

Research environmental pollution in a state other than Louisiana. What commonalities do you find to the problems the author describes in Lake Charles? Did you pick a “red state” or a “blue state,” and how might that have impacted your findings?

What role does the church play in identity development and community cohesion for the people whom Hochschild interviews in Louisiana? How does the author’s exploration of the way that religion shapes everyday life allow her to break down an empathy wall?

Pick one of the people the author interviews and discuss the way that their story speaks to one of the novel’s key themes. How do individual narratives help the author explore big-picture aspects of the American political landscape?

This text has been cited by many as helpful in understanding the results of the 2016 election, and its audience was primarily liberal. How does the author encourage her readers to have empathy with conservative Americans?