Just reading the summary I bet I know some of the people in it, or know their kids and grandkids. Half my high school class is still around Winchester working shifts at the Rubbermaid plant or running a roofing, construction, electrician, plumbing business (I worked construction and worked a summer job at a different plant there when I was younger too -- something my dad thought would be good for my life experiences).

Crazy that his go-to was the Royal Lunch and it looks played up as redneck heaven. My buddy who bought it a few years ago is black and he promotes it as a soul food restaurant (haven't eaten there yet but sounds like they've got some kick-ass fried chicken).

One thing I'll say (that seems to come out in the book) is that Winchester is about as over the top on political absurdity as it gets, which is probably what inspired the book. I think proximity to DC has a lot to do with that. People from Winchester are close enough to be the butt of DC-area snobs' jokes about yokels across the mountains, and can see plain as day how wide the prosperity gap is. I get that, but man....the way people deal with that stuff is just plain frightening.

Part of the reason I probably come across as a dick on here sometimes is the head-shaking frustration I experience daily by looking at my Facebook feed. A lot of really nasty, mean-spirited, angry rants about this that and everything (quite often gays, transgendered, immigrants, people on welfare, etc.) or people feeling the need to profess how "redneck" they are to the world and show pictures of their guns, explain how they want to bomb the Muslim world back into the stone age, etc. Also a weird sense of derision about all things government. I recall when I did a cycle through public service a few years ago (oddly enough, the hardest I've ever worked in my life and by far the most talented group I've ever worked with, doing amazing and important work) I got comment after comment about how I must have gotten sick of working long hours at a law firm and just wanted to kick back and get a pension on the taxpayer's dime. When I explained it was a strategic career move and also a chance to make a difference and do something that matters, I got the incredulous head-nod and a "whatever"--as if everyone who works for the government is some kind of mooch, that was their story, and they were sticking to it.

Anyways it's shocking how awfully bitter and offputting a lot of the folks I grew up with (who used to be laid back teenagers that liked to party and hang out) have turned out. One of the reasons I look forward to reading this book is to hear someone's more thought-out take on what I've observed in my own town.

As an aside, a buddy of mine (also a Winchester ex-pat and more liberal than I am -- kind of a Bernie Bro, I think) were talking last weekend about these same topics and we were both wondering who really changed -- us, or the folks who stayed behind? I'm not sure. I think probably a bit of both. But thanks for the recommendation and look forward to