In 2011, Arlie Hochschild went to Lake Charles, Louisiana, an area on the brink of environmental crisis and suffering from poor health, widespread poverty, and low rates of literacy and life expectancy. While there, she wondered, “why do Tea Party voters in the nation’s poorest states, which receive far more money from Washington than they give, oppose almost all federal aid?”

So began the journey that produced Strangers in Their Own Land, a narrative that goes beyond the commonplace idea that many on the political right have been duped into voting against their self-interest. At the core of what Hochschild found was not the anger that so many liberals see when they look at the right, but rather sadness and a sense of loss. She discovers powerful forces—fear of cultural eclipse, economic, religious and demographic decline, and a keen sensitivity to the contempt in which they feel they are held by people on the coasts—which override self-interest as progressives see it. In doing so, Hochschild helps to explain the emotional appeal to people in places like Louisiana of a candidate like Donald Trump. Even as Hochschild gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she champions, she discovers surprising common ground in philosophy, in ideas, and in policy.

ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD is a writer and sociologist. Her latest book, Strangers in Their Own Land, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award. She is the author of nine books, including The Second Shift, The Time Bind, The Managed Heart, and The Outsourced Self. Her work appears in sixteen languages. The winner of the Ulysses Medal as well as Guggenheim and Mellon grants, she lives in Berkeley, California.

SCOTT TONG has reported from more than a dozen countries as a correspondent for Marketplace, including from refugee camps in east Africa, shoe factories in eastern China, and oil sands in Canada. He currently serves as a correspondent on Marketplace's Sustainability Desk, where his coverage focuses on energy, the environment, natural resources, and the global economy. He was previously at PBS NewsHour and is a graduate of Georgetown University. Scott is the author of A Village with My Name.