Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

by Arlie Russell Hochschild

To Derwin—who, having brought lunch to his parents, is packing up to go—the solution to Bayou d’Inde lies far beyond power, politics, or science. A devoted believer in the rapture, as are his parents, Derwin describes the approach of the “End Times.” Quoting from the book of Revelation, he says, “The earth will burn with fervent heat.” Fire purifies, so the planet will be purified 1,000 years from now, and until then, the devil is on the rampage, Derwin says. In the Garden of Eden, “there wasn’t anything hurting your environment. We’ll probably never see the bayou like God made it in the beginning until He fixes it himself. And that will happen pretty shortly, so it don’t matter how much man destroys.”