03/23/2020
Yale Law School classmates Blashek, a conservative former Marine, and Haugh, a liberal Berkeley, Calif., native, debut with an earnest and open-minded chronicle of their cross-country road trips in search of political common ground. Between 2016 and 2019, the authors visited 45 states and Mexico, meeting people of all backgrounds and engaging in long—and occasionally heated—debates over climate change, immigration, police brutality, government regulation, and Trumpism. In Portland, Maine, they talk with a lobsterman about the impacts of tourism, real estate development, and overfishing on the seafood industry. They volunteer at a service center for South and Central American migrants in Tijuana, Mexico; attend a Trump rally in Phoenix, Ariz.; and visit with recently paroled women making handbags at a nonprofit rehabilitation program in Detroit. Their conversations and experiences reveal numerous ideological fault lines across the country, as well as “a deep well of feeling” for America’s civic virtues and “a spirit of rebirth and renewal.” Though the book’s reportage is more scattershot than comprehensive, Blashek and Haugh’s portrait of their friendship reveals both the challenges and benefits of “argu passionately while respecting the other side.” Readers dismayed by today’s hyperpartisanship will find solace in this sober-minded yet hopeful account. Agent: Elias Altman, Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents. (May)
In their cross-country drives and the book Union that documents them, they sought common ground — ways to connect with people regardless of their beliefs.”—New and Noteworthy, New York Times Book Review
"Union takes readers on a deeply personal journey through the heart of a divided nation. Haugh and Blashek discover an instinct to endure and improve that is shared by the left, the right, and the ever-narrowing center, and detail Americans' abilities to find growth, hope, and fundamental strength in their own lives."—Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author
"In the great tradition of American road trip sagas, Chris and Jordan set out across America. Two young people with different politics and outlooks, they were able to see the cool and inspiring things that bind us as a nation. Now more than ever, this is an important book-and also an enjoyable one!"—Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs
"Union is a story of hope, beautifully told, and breathtakingly honest. It's honest about our differences, and it's revealing about all we can find in common if we take the time to look. Chris and Jordan bridge divides between each other and between Americans in a journey that's part de Tocqueville, and part Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley in Search of America." These two young Americans remind us that our country is complicated, and they find richness in the mosaic that is our fragile union. For anyone turned off by the shouting matches on cable news, open up Union and remind yourself that from the front seat of an eighteen-wheeler or the bow of a lobster boat, there's a better way to see our country and find ourselves."—John F. Kerry, 68th U.S. Secretary of State and author of Every Day is Extra
"Chris and Jordan's odyssey across America is rich with lessons for us all. Giving hope to those who want to believe 'there's more to America than gladiatorial politics,' -that a collective and singular identity exists among Americans - this account provides a foundation for national purpose absent the scorching rhetoric of our time."—General Jim Mattis, U.S. Marines (ret.)
"What our country needs right now is Union. Americans might not always get along-or see things the same way-but that doesn't have to be our undoing. Jordan and Chris capture our current moment of upheaval, yet leave readers with reasons to hold fast to what we have. This book is a unique tale told through two pairs of eyes-one that offers not just a sense for where we are, but who we are and why that still matters."—Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and author of Battle Hymn of Tiger Mother and Political Tribes
"More than ever, America needs people like Chris and Jordan to teach and inspire us to build our own bridges across the diverse experiences and perspectives that make up our great country. Union is a book for anyone who believes in the future of America, despite this moment of polarization and divided politics. This beautiful travel log gives us hope for a more optimistic shared future."—Kerry Healey, President of the Center for the Advancement of the American Dream, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts (R)
"Union is a lively, funny, honest and original approach to the too-familiar problem of American political divides. Blashek and Haugh offer fresh insights on the roots of division, and point to positive paths ahead."—James Fallows, co-author of Our Towns
"Blashek and Haugh's portrait of their friendship reveals both the challenges and benefits of 'argu[ing] passionately while respecting the other side.' Readers dismayed by today's hyper-partisanship will find solace in this sober-minded yet hopeful account."—Publishers Weekly
"An insightful look at contemporary America."—Kirkus Reviews
"Readers are left with a message of hope, that despite differences we are more alike than different, as Americans coming to grips with the challenges of our contemporary world. Spanning political science, memoir, and travelog, this deeply personal account should find a broad audience.”—Library Journal
"At a time when it feels like partisanship has begun to undermine patriotism, Union is about how two friends came to understand each other, and our entire country, more deeply . . . It is a little uncanny how much the conversations they have on the road reflect the current situation in our streets. What emerges in their conversations, and those they had with others on their journey, is the power of our shared values even in the presence of competing beliefs, a similar hope for progress even if we have different ideas about how to achieve it."—Porchlight Books Blog
06/19/2020
Here is the tale of two students who met at Yale Law School, each representing a wing of our political system, and each then experiencing the wondrous complexity of the United States but viewed from their own perspective. Attorney and former marine Blashek, a Republican, joins college friend Haugh, a staunch Democrat and former intern in the Obama White House, to begin this account tracing their time in New Haven, CT, as well as travels throughout the country, from Pheonix to Detroit; Portland, ME; New Orleans; Tulsa; and more. On the road they meet interesting people and discover more about themselves in the process. In New Orleans, both Blashek and Haugh are forced to reconcile with history and what the past says about the future. Ultimately, both men find their differences are not as important as what binds them together as citizens of this complex nation. Overall, readers are left with a message of hope, that despite differences we are more alike than different, as Americans coming to grips with the challenges of our contemporary world. VERDICT Spanning political science, memoir, and travelog, this deeply personal account should find a broad audience.—Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
2020-03-11
On road trips across the country, two friends confront their deeply held beliefs.
Making their book debut, former Marine Blashek, now an investor in New York City, and Haugh, a journalist who was an intern in the Obama White House and served on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, recount the evolution of their friendship, and their views about America, as they traveled to 44 states over the course of three years. The authors met at Yale Law School, and though they thought one another interesting and sympathetic, they found themselves frustratingly enmeshed in “suffocating ideological debates, politics, and the drawing of lines.” Blashek, a Republican, was quick to defend Donald Trump from attacks, suspicious of Haugh’s liberal stance. Haugh, raised by an activist single mother in Berkeley, “had grown up among protests.” While Blashek believed that Trump’s policy on immigration stemmed from a commitment to protect Americans from criminals, Haugh insisted that Trump was racist and, moreover, stoked racism among his followers. “Disagreements lingered,” the authors write, growing “deeper and more painful” as their arguments intensified. In 2017, with their plans for the future in flux, they decided to set off in search of the nation they felt they hardly knew. Their travels took them to a Trump rally in Phoenix, one week after the Charlottesville incident, where, to their surprise, Trump delivered “a script of unity and hope.” Despite protestors and heavily armed militiamen, they witnessed people engaged in passionate—but respectful—argument, unlike the conflicts reported by the media. “They were actually listening to one another,” the authors note. As they traveled, discovering communities bound by “a deep reservoir of social capital,” they learned that “finding common ground wasn’t about getting to agreement. It was about getting to the point where disagreement didn’t matter as much.” Both men, genial guides, ended their travels with a sense of hope about “how [things] could be if we act together to make it so.”
An insightful look at contemporary America.
