A scathing indictment of Republican-dominated state governments for ignoring the needs of their residents, weakening democracy, and stoking divisive issues in order to draw attention away from their subservience to corporate interests. Since the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and the rise of the tea party shortly thereafter, Republican governors and legislatures have been aggressive in passing legislation to cut taxes, eviscerate environmental regulations, withdraw funding from public education, restrict access to health care, demonize immigrants and labor unions, and limit voting rights, all to the detriment of minorities, working-class citizens, and the poor. Kleinknecht, a newspaper reporter and author of The Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America, attributes their behavior to a slavish adherence to a corporate agenda that serves both personal and political interests. In short, many people suffer so Republican governors and legislators can thrive, with the country further divided along the fault lines of class and ideology. Particularly egregious, notes the author, are states such as Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, Mississippi, and West Virginia (a "failed state") and governors such as Matt Bevin (Kentucky), Ron DeSantis (Florida), and Greg Abbott (Texas). Kleinknecht compares what is happening in these states to the people-friendly policies of California, New York, and Massachusetts. Regarding the boasts of Republicans in Texas and Arizona about their robust economic growth, the author exposes them as deeply deceptive. Blue states, he writes, may not be "paragons of progress," but it is the red states that stand as exemplars of unfettered market capitalism and political disdain for public welfare. "Only by fully understanding the trend toward autocracy and corporate domination in the red states," writes Kleinknecht, "and how abjectly it has undermined the nation, can progressives wrest control of the narrative from the far right and begin to alter the course of American politics." An impassioned critique of Republican state officials for the harm they cause their most vulnerable residents. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Journalist Kleinknecht (The Man Who Sold the World) delivers a scathing rebuke of Republican politicians who have created financial opportunities for companies at the expense of the health and safety of their constituents. Contending that conservative governors and state legislators, in conjunction with their "corporate allies," have made working-class people in red states "poorer, sicker, less educated" than their counterparts in blue states, Kleinknecht writes that "only by fully understanding the trend toward autocracy and corporate dominion in the red states" will progressives be able to "wrest control of the narrative from the far right and begin to alter the course of American politics." His evidence includes the gutting of environmental enforcement efforts in Texas and the 2014 Elk River chemical spill in West Virginia, "one of the worst cases of contaminated drinking water in American history." Meanwhile, Kleinknecht claims, "evacuation orders, poisoned drinking water, red tides, beaches with no-swimming signs, bays with fishing bans, cancer hotspots... have either disappeared or become rarities in the blue states." Kleinknecht also tackles disparities in education and healthcare funding and highlights innovative welfare programs such as Connecticut's "Baby Bonds" initiative. Copious evidence, impassioned prose, and astute political analysis make this a must-read for progressive policymakers and activists. (Nov.)

In this collection of troublesome legislative outcomes, seasoned Detroit Free Press reporter Kleinknecht (The Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America) examines how a myriad of initiatives under Republican governors have negatively impacted citizens in red states and beyond. The author begins each chapter by humanizing an issue, and he highlights the states and governors deemed responsible for the harmful decisions and legislation. This is done by analyzing the topics--a lack of ethics, pollution, and education, to name a few--from a blue perspective. Most notably, the work offers no mention of any positive Republican policies. In the end, the author concludes that federal progressivism might be a solution to future red-state actions, which pulls the content together. VERDICT Public libraries might have an interest in the book.--James Rhoades