so this book is called vacationland. vacationland is the motto - that is the nickname of the state of maine, which is a state in the united states. - it is. and this book is really about two states, it's about massachusetts and it's about maine, to the degree that it's about something geographical. - it's about three states, i would dare say. and three different wildernesses. one, the rural part of western massachusetts, where i was not born but i spent a lot of my time growing up. two, the painful coastal beaches of maine, where my wife has instructed me i will accept my death. and then the third state, the third wilderness is the metaphoric haunted forest of middle age that connects those two parts of my life. and they are all true stories rather than absurd fake stories. - i love the part that's about you. i wanna do the part that's about maine and massachusetts first, and then come to the you part. i love the story that you have told in this book and have told elsewhere about how maine became a state. - oh right. - t

maine is a vacationland and we have a lot of lakes in this area.p-of-state money has bought camps on% of all the the waterfront. the taxes have gone through the roof. local people cannot afford a vacation home in maine. unless you go way up north. that is one of the big of fax. -- fx. effect. and knocking down old farm houses and building vacation homes. that is great as they support our economy. mainers cannot afford to have a vacation home in vacationland. yes, we can make a living. taking care of out of state or's summer homes -- stater summer home. when they drive the taxes of, it is hard. host: be safe this morning. caller: thank you. host: the divide that he highlighted in his call reflected in this story from the "washington post." it is from late last year and it went along with the poll we showed you earlier. the rural divide is the headline, the political divide they note between rural and urban america is more cultural than economic, rooted in rural resident deed misgivings in the rapidly changing demographics, the sense that christianit