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Soooooo...let’s talk about this book, which I read over the weekend. 1/ 
“Dignity,” by @Chris_arnade , often gets lumped together with JD Vance and Salena Zito’s work. This does the book a disservice. 2/
I say this as someone who very much isn’t a Vance/Zito hater. The issue is that it is just a VERY different work. The book simply doesn’t belong in the “let’s talk about Trump voters in a diner” genre. 3/
If Arnade’s work should be lumped in with anyone (a big "if"), it is that of Jacob Riis or Michael Harrington. 4/
Even this is too strong, because while there’s a political subtext to the book, but it isn’t what the book is really about. The book is about people. 5/
It’s a reminder to the winners of American society, of ALL political persuasions, that there is an other America, and that this America doesn’t fit neatly into their political programs.Also, that there are consequences for the non-winnners for the society the winners build. 6/
In fact, it isn’t clear that there is a political program their needs fit into. Although Arnade sees a large role for redistribution, the book's title is telling. Unlike Riis or Harrington, who both emphasize material want in their famous titles 7/
Arnade's work is about the spiritual emptiness that comes from the destruction of the way of life that allows the “front row” to build increasingly splendid, if also increasingly homogenous, cities. 8/
In this way, Arnade’s work is conservative in a deep sense (though not at all in the shallow sense that pervades much of modern “conservatism”). It is about the consequences of loss of community and loss of place in society. In other words, about loss of dignity. 9/
These are things that economic conservatism have been a driver of, if not the primary driver of. We can argue about other causes of these tradeoffs, or even whether the tradeoffs are worthwhile. We can of course argue about solutions to the problems Arnade describes. 10/
But if you want to better understand the problem, this book is indispensable. 11/11
