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David Masciotra appears to adhere to the belief that if you watch the right shows, read the right books, and—as he hammers home every page—listen to the right music, you can become a better person. At least that's what I glean from this book.

While it is an interesting thesis—exurbia contains the subjects of the new 'white flight', and its politics play an outsized role in American governance—the analysis is surface level. He trades deep thought, for the kind of writing that I can only describe as "a tenured professor's Twitter thread on center-left grievance."

Between rolling his eyes at leftists, 'Bernie Bros', and podcast hosts, he goes out of his way to mock the idea that exurbia's politics are shaped by economics (whether it's material conditions, or economic anxiety), but instead just an inborn racism, and sexism; incurable save for perhaps an outdoor acoustic set in a community plaza, performed by some blues-inspired suburban liberal. Pages after this "analysis," he takes the time to quote Patti Smith, who laments the cheap and affordable cities and towns that she came up in, that gave her—and artists like her—the opportunity to create counter-culture. Somehow, David Masciotra can't seem to square the two thoughts, and that's really what the crux of my two-star review hangs upon.

On a pettier note: You can tell this guy used to be a music journalist, because he takes every chance he can get to reference some act, whether it's some '70s–'80s blues, or rock, artist, or some local artist who—like him—is a boomer-coded millennial.

Give this book a pass.