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Podcast: New Books in American Politics
Episode: Matthew Ferrence, "I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay" (West Virginia UP, 2024)
Description: Today I talked to Matthew Ferrence about his book I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay (West Virginia UP, 2024).When a progressive college professor runs for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a deeply conservative rural district, he loses. That’s no surprise. But the story of how Ferrence loses and, more importantly, how American political narratives refuse to recognize the existence and value of nonconservative rural Americans offers insight into the political morass of our nation.In essays focused on showing goats at the county fair, planting native grasse...