THE UNDERTOW Scenes from a Slow Civil War

After January 6, 2021, Sharlet crisscrossed the U.S., talking to people on the far right. Here he re-creates those interactions with energy, reciting dialogue with appropriate accents and cadences. That said, his voice lacks the necessary dramatic authority. And while his stories vividly portray the anger roiling much of the extreme right, overall, they feel like articles (which most were) loosely bound together. Still, these tales exemplify how his subjects look for signs that their cause is a just one and that civil war is inevitable. One such story describes how Ashli Babbitt, who was killed by the Capitol police on January 6, became a martyr of the right. Whatever the author's shortcomings as a narrator, his passion for the importance of his findings shines through. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2023]