States of Neglect, William Kleinknecht
States of Neglect, William Kleinknecht
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States of Neglect
How Red-State Leaders Have Failed Their Citizens and Undermined America

Author: William Kleinknecht

Narrator: Jonathan Todd Ross

Unabridged: 10 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Kalorama

Published: 03/28/2023


Synopsis

In the wake of Trump's presidency, Republican-led states have joined in an alarming assault on our democratic system. But the drift toward authoritarianism in red states has far deeper roots. We now have a country where tens of millions of people live under regimes that have spent years starving education and health care, empowering polluters, engaging in voter suppression, and neglecting their citizens' well-being in the interest of cutting taxes for the wealthy.

In States of Neglect, journalist William Kleinknecht surveys the landscape of neglect in states including Texas, Florida, and Arizona through the experiences of a rich cast of characters. He visits environmental dead zones in the Texas Gulf region. He investigates Arizona's abandonment of public education and its corrupt charter school industry. He shows how Mississippi's denuded health care system has made the Magnolia State the sickest in the nation. And he explains how North Carolina allows its people to sink into poverty while catering to the needs of corporations.

As a postscript, Kleinknecht proposes how progressive states on either coast might join in a compact of "progressive federalism" that uses their superior economic and cultural resources to counter the influence of the far right.

About William Kleinknecht

William Kleinknecht is a longtime newspaper reporter who covered politics, government, criminal justice, and the environment for the Detroit Free Press, New York Daily News, and Newark Star-Ledger. The author of The Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America, The New Ethnic Mobs: The Changing Face of Organized Crime in America, and States of Neglect: How Red-State Leaders Have Failed Their Citizens and Undermined America, he lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on February 07, 2023

After all the slander and name calling calms down, someone needs to check the facts on red states vs blue states. That assignment was taken up by William Kleinknecht, in States of Neglect. As readers might glean from the title, states with Republican governments are being dismantled and impoverished......more

Goodreads review by Stitching on December 19, 2022

A very well documented account of the process by which, with the push of corporations further empowered by Citizen United, states have entered an era of neglect not just for the welfare of their citizen but the very existence of a future for them and of the results of that neglect. From the ongoing......more

Goodreads review by Allison on October 06, 2024

States of Neglect asks Americans to consider state politics with the same level of gravity they do the federal level. The author points out the direct impact of state decision-making on citizens' quality of life and asks us to open our eyes to how states can block any social projects attempted by th......more

Goodreads review by J Earl on January 10, 2023

States of Neglect by William Kleinknecht shows the history and details of how so many red states have neglected their citizens in order to cater to corporations and score ideological brownie points. Most people realize the glaring differences between blue states and red states, from voter suppression......more

Goodreads review by Parisa on August 03, 2023

Absolutely incredible. Fact filled and addresses a multitude of issues Americans are facing from education to climate change. It takes you through the history of various red and blue states to show how we have arrived to the state of our country today. Highly recommend all Americans read this.......more