This week’s guest is Brian Alexander.

An award-winning journalist and author, Brian has written about American culture for decades. He is a two-time finalist for the National Magazine Award. He has also been recognized by Medill School of Journalism’s John Bartlow Martin awards for public interest journalism, the Association of Healthcare Journalists, and other organizations. He has been a columnist for NBC News. He grew up in Lancaster, with a family history in the glass business.

You can preorder his newest book – The Mayor: One Poor City's Fight to Bring Back Government and Save the Nation's Soul.

In this conversation, we speak to Brian about his book, Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town, where he uses the story of his hometown, Lancaster, Ohio, to show how seeds sown 35 years ago have sprouted to give us Trumpism, inequality, and an eroding national cohesion. This conversation explores what happens when work, dignity, and community are stripped from a place and what it reveals about the soul of America. We talk about the forces hollowing out towns like Lancaster, Ohio, and the human cost behind economic transformation. And ultimately, we ask what it means to belong, to make something real, and to hold onto hope in the middle of it all.

Our sponsor is The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier University, here in Cincinnati, which is dedicated to deepening understanding across faiths and promoting systemic change.

Avenue M is produced by Bespoken Live with music by Zach Swelber, who plays in Circle It and Mosant.