Join us in celebrating the release of local author, Sasha Abramsky’s latest book: Chaos Comes Calling on Thursday, October 3rd at 6:30 PM.

About the Author

Sasha Abramsky is a long-time political journalist and author who spent the last thirty years exploring the American political and social justice landscape. CHAOS COMES CALLING is a harrowing tale of how political polarization threatens America’s social fabric, told through the differing fates of two communities in the throes of ideological and partisan battle.

About the Book

Donald Trump’s November 2016 electoral victory presaged four years of demagogy, presidential name-calling, and – ten months into a pandemic – an incitement to violence that led a mob of thousands to descend on the Capitol in Washington, DC. Fueled by suspicion, conspiracy, and bigotry, a faction of Americans with extreme beliefs fought to seize control. But the biggest effect of this right-wing wave may not have been on our national politics, but on the local governments of communities around the country.

In CHAOS COMES CALLING, Abramsky tells the parallel stories of two communities: Shasta County, CA, and Sequim, WA, where toxic alliances of QAnoners, anti-vaxxers, Christian nationalists, militia supporters, and other denizens of the far-right have worked to take control of the levers of power. While Sequim ultimately recalibrated in 2021, returning to a more rational, less violent baseline, Shasta County has descended further into a climate of intolerance and toxic divisiveness.

By illuminating how the polarization of national politics has seeped into local affairs, Abramsky vividly captures how extremism upended life in these communities and transformed the country’s politics. He also provides a sobering glimpse of what America’s future may hold if the extremist spiral is not kept in check.