Hoffman brings his extensive experience reporting from around the world to bear on the phenomenon of Trump rallies. He hopes to treat the attendees the way an anthropologist would, dispassionately and taking them at their word, but after ingratiating himself with a group of super-fans, the guys who are at the head of every line, he finds it more and more difficult to feel any sympathy with their racism, xenophobia, and self-pity. About 1/3 of the way through, his disgust began to feel depressing and off-putting, but he stuck with the project and so did I. I was glad I did. The closest analogue he found was the great religious awakenings that have taken place in the U.S. periodically throughout our history. “To read descriptions of revivals from the 1700s and the 1800s, in which the preacher painted such a dark portrait of sin that people died only to be reborn by their faith, is to read an only slightly exaggerated description of a Trump rally,” he writes (161). There are plenty of frightening comparisons to Hitler’s fascism as well. Ultimately, he concludes that these are (mostly) men looking for community and affirmation, but mainly in the unhealthiest way, so they are bound to be disappointed yet again. Read a newspaper, he exhorts them, use your critical faculties to really examine the guy you’re following. Unfortunately, they would rather be right than enlightened and that’s the problem.