Book Description

“This land was made for you and me.” This is the emphatic refrain of Woody Guthrie’s iconic anthem, a profound rendering of one of our nation’s most sacred truths. Yet, for far too many and for far too long, this hasn’t felt like a land made for them, or one that even wants them. And that’s just not sustainable. This Land Is Your Land (TLIYL) is a telling of our social story through the lens of the American people, how we became who we are and who we're in the process of becoming. It’s about the systems we built, both generative and degenerative, from democracy and equality to slavery and social supremacy, and how everything about us is changing. Right this minute, we’re in the midst of the greatest sociological shift in U.S. history, one where, in every way we currently measure, we’ll soon be a post-majority nation. By 2045, incumbent majorities, from racial whiteness to Christianization to heteronormativity will all be downgraded to minority status. This “Time of Turmoil”, one where everything’s shifting, is why we’re experiencing so much unrest and instability, from rising poverty to increasingly caustic elections to diminishing human regard. But it's also why getting this right has never been more important or mattered more. A combination of personal vignettes and cultural analysis, TLIYL covers 300+ years of shared history, one that’s been shaped by nearly 550 million lives lived, and explores how, together, we move forward. It’s a story with three parts: Part One: How the American Race Construct (ARC) and other toxic frameworks impaired us; Part Two: How the Degenerative Cycle (DGC) and other predatory processes imperiled us (Part Two); and Part Three: How through personal practices like the Four Actions, each of us can help us become a society that embraces all of us. Today, we find ourselves in a bit of a tough place. But instead of an ending, this shift we’re undergoing might actually be a beginning – a chance to both make our founding dreams real and gift the future a future. And in doing so, we transform ourselves into a new land, one, as Woody sang, made for you and me.