Introduction.Bageant claims to speakwith the authority of experience of the"working-class poor" or "lower class" of Winchester, VA: "conservative, politicallymisinformed or oblivious, and patriotic totheir own detriment" (6; 1-8). These arewhite poor (8-10). "[T]he fact is, we area working-class country . . . at least 60percent . . . 'working class' might best bedefined like this: You do not have powerover your work" (11). Michael Zweig of SUNY Stony Brook on the "hollowing outof the middle class" (12). "[T]here ispractically no labor movement" (13)."[T]he left must genuinely connect face-to-face with" with the working class andpursue "class equity" (15; 14-17).Ch. 1: American Serfs: Inside theWhite Ghetto of the Working Poor.Portraits of Pootie, Dink, and Dot drinkingat "Royal Lunch" in Winchester (21-25). Today's class wars are notrich vs. poor ,buteducated vs. uneducated (26-29). The life chances of the poor are worsenow than a generation ago (30-33). Theworking class is characterized bypassivity, anti-intellectualism, and angertoward outsiders (33-35). Bageantrecently spent two years organizing thestate's first tenant union in Winchester(35-39). Today's workers do not realizethat aclass war is being waged againstthem; they don't even know the term(39; 39-40). Depredations wreaked bybusinesspeople and their accomplices(40-42). Bageant's father was ignorantof his own exploitation (43-44). Small-and medium-size businesses are stifledby big business (44-48). Closing time atthe bar (48-49).Ch. 2: Republicans by Default:Redneck Pride and Fear in an Age of Outsourcing.Winchester's Rubbermaidplant (53-61). The anti-elitism and thework ethic—at the service of the elites—of Tom Henderson, a Rubbermaid workerand redneck (61-73). CorporateRubbermaid pressured (via Wal-Mart) byglobalization (73-77). Nance Willingham,a 33-year-old woman worker who
