Some of the sharpest criticisms about the ethos of the United States can be found in American Spirits, the final work of short fiction by Russell Banks (A Permanent Member of the Family; Lost Memory of Skin), who died in 2023. The three stories in this collection are a wallop to the psyche of the country, with plenty of censure to go around. There's plenty of provocation, too: the protagonists of these works are unapologetic Trump supporters. As in other Banks works, the setting is Sam Dent, "hometown for eleven hundred disparate souls" in upstate New York. Conflicts don't resolve pleasantly, nor does Banks spare his characters, including children, from the worst of life.
Each story is a model of grotesque beauty. In "Nowhere Man," a hunter who hates "socialist Democrats" sees no contradiction between his passion for hunting and his hatred of a wealthy out-of-stater who sets up a shooting range on the property the protagonist's family sold him. "Homeschooling" pits a conservative couple against the married white lesbians who live next door with four adopted Black children, a conflict that intensifies when the children seek their neighbors' help. The finale, "Kidnapped," centers on two Canadian drug dealers who abduct the grandparents of a 20-year-old who has the cocaine the young man's mother was supposed to sell. Parts of this collection have a both-sides element that might rankle, but Banks had storytelling muscle to spare. Anyone keen to discover why Banks was one of the most celebrated writers of his day will find ample evidence in these brutal, propulsive works. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer