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despite their shared politcs, sacco and hedges are a bit of an odd couple. sacco's instinct to get out of the way and let people tell their own stories is the key ingredient to his magic (imo), whereas hedges can't wait to turn each tale of misery into a bullet-point in his ongoing treatise against neoliberal capitalism.

don't get me wrong - this is a good book that does us all a great service by telling the stories it tells. i spent most of my life in philadelphia - a 15 minute subway ride from camden, NJ - and nearly everyone i know who ever ended up there did so by accident. too often in philly, camden is little more than a punchline - one that occasionally comes from the mouths of the same people crying crocodile tears over "the ruins of detroit" or whatever. by shining a light on these "economic dead zones," sacco and hedges remind me that these places exist, which in and of itself is incredibly important.

that said, i guess i'm "team sacco" all the way. i admire chris hedges (especially as an activist), but he's way too eager to "speak for" the people he encounters here, and it comes dangerously close to deal-breaker territory for me at times. i have great sympathy for his thesis (and diagnosis, for the most part), but as someone who lives in a small rust-belt city with an evaporating infrastructure myself (erie, pa), i can't help thinking that the people he interviews might not be pleased with his depictions of them from time to time.

and the soapboxing isn't necessary, as sacco's comic passages make clear. the stories do the leg work for them - the abandonment, the prejudices, the eroding social safety nets - all of these things shine through in the words of the people they encounter. hedges has some big, important ideas on display here, and he's committed to an admirable project. but i wish he was a better listener.