Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work

Camaraderie is a theme to which Laskas returns again and again. For the miners, fellowship emerges from a sense of mutual dependency: “Bottom line. Because these fuckholes, every one that goes down there each and every day, depends on the next fuckhole. Bottom line” (30). This is the same kind of brotherhood depicted on the ranch and the oil rig and in driving long distance—looking out for each other, doing a good job because the next person needs you to do a good job, protecting and supporting one another. This is true for the cheerleaders as well, where camaraderie it is about supporting each other, working together as one, and becoming the best each of them can be, to promote the squad as a unit.

The mutual trust and friendship of worker relationships is more complex for the air traffic controllers, who are often asked to choose between union and management, between their own personal desires and needs and that of the people they are protecting. Here, Laskas introduces the idea of a relationship not just among worker peers but also with the people workers are protecting: the pilots, the flight attendants, the passengers.

The idea is complicated again in the section on the gun store, and Laskas depicts a very real divide between those who support the second amendment, and those who desire some sort of restriction on gun ownership.