Joe Bageant

Early life

Bageant was originally raised in Winchester, Virginia. He left Winchester and worked as a journalist and editor. In 2001, Bageant moved back to Winchester.

Progressive author

In Deer Hunting With Jesus, Bageant discusses how Democrats have lost the political support of poor rural whites and how the Republican Party has convinced them to "vote against their own economic self-interest." The book is mainly centered on his hometown, Winchester.

In 2010, Bageant published a similarly themed book, Rainbow Pie: A Redneck Memoir. Bageant used his extended family's experience after World War II to describe the social hierarchy in the United States. The book examines the postwar journey of 22 million rural Americans into the cities, where they became, the author argues, the foundation of a permanent white underclass and comprise much of today’s heartland red state voters.

Bageant frequently appeared as a commentator on radio and television internationally and wrote a progressive online column distributed to hundreds of blogs and websites. He maintained his own blog joebageant.net, assisted by Ken Smith who has continued editing the blog since Bageant's death. Bageant also served as a senior (roving) editor with Cyrano's Journal Today and The Greanville Post, two sites devoted to progressive political and media analyses.

Later life

During the last years of his life, Bageant lived in Ajijic, a small town on Lake Chapala in central Mexico. He had been living in Ajijic, where he wrote "Rainbow Pie," when he learned that he had a fast-growing and inoperable cancer.

On January 4, 2011, Bageant announced on his web site that he had been "struck down by an extremely serious form of cancer" that was inoperable and so he was unable to engage in correspondence or his usual work, but he hoped to be able to resume them in the future.

On March 27, it was announced on his website that he had died on March 26 following "a vibrant life" and a four-month struggle with cancer.

Legacy

After he died, his Australian publisher asked Bageant's literary executor, Ken Smith, to select and edit about 80,000 words of his essays. The book was published in November 2011 as "Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball: The Best of Joe Bageant." Upon its original publication, this posthumous collection was available only in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa where, according to Smith, it sold reasonably well.

According to Smith, "no American publisher is yet interested in a book by a redneck socialist -- and that says a lot about American culture and the US book business." When his friends at "The Greanville Post" learned about the seriousness of his condition, he was unanimously voted as editor emeritus of the publication.

In addition to being Joe's literary executor, Ken Smith maintained Joe's websites. Smith himself died in 2016 and with the continuation of the website being uncertain, a new website has been created at JoeBageant.org.

Books