I found the most interesting the first "essay" of Coates's trip to Africa and how it related to the make-believe place his radical parents taught of growing up. The South Carolina trip certainly could have been more, but it properly shown what local school board meetings are about, organized minorities showing up at one night to make it look like everyone in town agrees with you. His trip to Palestine took up like 3/5 of the book and it probably could have taken even more. I came away with a much better understanding of how difficult the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are, with the state continuing to own the land and leasing out its use and the practice of leveraging even the smallest "archeological discovers" to oppress Palestinians. The first time in decades I'm questioning my idea that a no-state solution in the Holy Land will be the jumping off point for an inevitable libertarian society.

Coates is an atheist, while he didn't go to the point of making fun of believers by "making decisions based on fairy tales" as some do, it comes through that he thinks poorly of those with religious beliefs.