There are probably more suitable books to give one's Trump-loving uncle than David Masciotra's Exurbia Now: The Battleground of American Democracy. But nonpartisan and even semi-partisan readers should find their minds opened by journalist Masciotra's incisive, worry-making, and deeply humane book, which sits somewhere between an exposé and a long-form think piece.
Since the tumultuous year 2020, Masciotra reports, residency in exurbia has been on the upswing: "Once the land of trailer parks, it is now full of planned communities--new single-family homes in close proximity to wide roads, big box retailers, chain restaurants, and megachurches." What's behind this white flight, explains Masciotra, is increasing discomfort with suburbia's trend toward liberalism and racial and ethnic diversity. For Masciotra, it's concerning when large numbers of people leave cities and suburbs for the relative isolation of the exurbs, whose lack of sidewalks discourages strangers but also neighborliness. Perhaps not incidentally, "the rank and file in the January 6 insurrectionist mob was populated heavily with residents of exurban towns."
Exurbia Now is rich with the author's personal stories. Masciotra (I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters) is no coastal elite: he hails from a blue-collar family and was raised, and resides, in the suburban Midwest. Whether he's discussing the significance of pickup-truck ownership or the dangers of feverish nostalgia, Masciotra reinforces his cautionary points with pop culture references and song lyrics. In fact, his readers may feel that the names Springsteen and Mellencamp get nearly as much ink as the name Trump. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer