The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community’s Battle over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights; Or, How the Right Divides Us

In The Stranger Next Door, Alrene Stein explores how a small community with a declining industrial economy became the site of a bitter battle over gay rights. Fearing job loss and a feeling of being left behind, one Oregon town’s working-class residents allied with religious conservatives to deny the civil liberties of queer men and women. In a book that combines strong on-the-ground research and lucid analysis with a novelist’s imaginative sympathy, Stein’s exploration of how fear and uncertainty can cause citizens to shift blame onto strangers provides insight into the challenges the country faces in the age of Trump.

Winner of the 2001 Ruth Benedict Award