Chris Arnade

As we all know, globalization resulted in winners and losers, and since the election of Trump the losers in that process have gotten a lot of attention, being credited with bringing this down upon us. But that attention has focused on the white folk whose communities have declined; Arnade here certainly includes them too but also expands that focus to include racial minorities who are similarly suffering the decline of what he calls the “back row” economy, but then also from a racism which hasn’t declined as much as we might like to think, and most troublingly the continuance and rise of which is one of the few ways white people in the back row have to find a semblance of dignity and belonging themselves.

In that sense then this is a work that takes a more complete view of the working class that’s been left behind and abandoned by globalization, but in another it takes a narrower one in that Arnade spends a lot of his time with the worst off from those communities, the homeless drug addicts and sex workers, many of whose problems might have more causes than the decline of traditional manufacturing - like mental illness, which it is clear a good number of the people he encounters are dealing with.

Whatever their problems and issues, though, Arnade sees the humanity in everyone, and this is a truly beautiful thing about this book. His photographs - this is a book of photojournalism, after all - are brilliant, and enable us to see the humanity in all of his subjects like he does.

This is a book which will engage your empathy, and reduce your misanthropy, which means I probably need to put it in regular rotation, myself.… (mehr)

Chris Arnade takes a journey firstly through Hunts Point, Bronx, New York and then through small town USA, taking photos of, and talking to, what he calls "the back row". Arnade himself is distinctly "front row" - an ex Wall St trader grown comfortably off and bored turned social anthropologist.

Much of the book is excellent; the stories he tells are always revealing, often depressing, occasionally uplifting. The people - the minimum wage workers, the homeless, the helpless, the drug ravaged and especially the sex workers, get a chance to be individuals rather than cases or statistics, and Arnade's pen and camera are always sympathetic and never patronising.

In fact this simple method of talking to people, and taking their photos, is where he is at his most effective. There is one photo of a young man pushing his infant children around in a shopping trolley, whilst his partner begs that is particularly affecting. When he gets into social commentary he is less convincing. Certainly he points out a couple of important factors - firstly the importance and ubiquity of drugs in "back row" America. Drugs are needed, Arnade thinks, as a coping technique for the undoubted misery of some of the lives he describes. But drugs are ubiquitous throughout "front row" America as well; in fact Arnade describes his own difficulties with alcohol so that's not really a convincing explanation. Its more likely that drugs have their appeal to all sections of society but the strategies users have to adopt to afford them in "back row" America are much more desperate

He is right to point out the unifying pull of religion, the pull to one's home community and the difficulty of progression without "credentials" and above all the importance of McDonald's as a community resource and asset. But I think he is wrong to suggest that the main thing these groups of the "left behind" want and need is "respect" and "dignity". What is needed is investment in social infrastructure and social care, and government investment to create employment or subsidised business investment. A path to security is more valuable than any amount of respect

This book has sometimes been described as one of the many discussing the rise of Trump; its not really that. Most of the people Arnade describes are unlikely to vote at all, and many of the small towns he describes would probably vote for any Republican candidate. And yet it does feel true that there is a gap in understanding and empathy between the "elite" and the "left behind" and that the latter group is growing fast. The America Arnade describes is not great and will not be great, but does need intervention to avoid further decline into an abyss of hopelessness

A request for the second edition; please label the photos. If people don't want their names published, fine, but at least label them for location. Its annoying not knowing where shots are taken… (mehr)

The journey of a well-educated, highly-successful businessman as he chooses to forsake life in banking to explore the low-income, intensely-avoided areas of the U.S. Several interviews take place with members of these communities. The residents choose to live in the communities that were once engaging, growing, and successfully, from a commercial perspective. With many residents following the movement of money and industry out of the communities, the author argues that it is not within everyone's ability or desire to be successful, as defined by society. The residents continue to live where they grew up, surrounded by those they've known since childhood, and feel they are successful, if not left behind.… (mehr)