Book Review: Deer Hunting with Jesus.
An interesting book about backwoods folks and their politics.
January 8, 2010.
I happened to stumble upon Joe Bageant's book at the library. A liberal "gonzo" journalist, he goes back to his roots in the backwoods of West Virgina talking about the stories of small town life. His book is a mix of insights, discussions of class politics, crudities, and humor.
His book was a fascinating quick read. A lot of it reminded me of my childhood, especially some of stories about rural life and the often unspoken incredible suffering of many. It's discussion of the underclass of Rural America is one that rarely gets much of a voice in politics today — despite making up a significant portion of the nearly 25% of Americans who live in rural areas.
I did not care for some of his analysis or humor when it comes to the redneck or rural culture. While he made some good points, sometimes in an attempt to be funny, his jokes fell flat or where downright offensive to those of us who grew up in rural areas, and have roots deeply attached to the rural culture.
Deer Hunting for Jesus was at times too political and too dismissive of some of the ideas of conservative rural people. Many have very legitimate concerns about the role of government, even if taken to their logical extremes ends up screwing rural folks. He also speaks about the rural nobility — the "big-time" farmer, the "big-time" real estate agent, and so forth that often dominate politics to their own exploitative benefit, while hurting many of the working poor that make up the majority of rural society.
All in all, Deer Hunting with Jesus is an interesting portrayal of many of the living conditions and troublesome lives of rural folk. If Joe Bageant could have laid off the humor and liberal analysis in the book, he would have written a classic text-book on Rural American sociology. Regardless, it's a must read in my book.
