Independent journalist Peter Santenello has spent six years traversing the United States, documenting the lives of everyday Americans for his popular YouTube channel. His new book, "Your Fellow Americans: Dispatches from Across the Country We Call Home," published by Simon & Schuster on August 4, distills these experiences into a portrait of a nation rich in diversity and surprising common ground.
Santenello's journey has taken him from the hollers of Appalachia to the streets of East Los Angeles, exploring ten distinct regions. He immersed himself in various lifestyles, from riding in a horse-drawn buggy in Amish country to a lowrider in East LA, and sampling regional delicacies such as raccoon in the Mississippi Delta and nutria rat in the Louisiana Bayou. He also experienced the unique cultures of places like Smith Island, Maryland, where Elizabethan English is still spoken, and St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, home to the Siberian Yupik people.
Despite the vast differences in geography and lifestyle, Santenello found that people across racial, gender, and class lines share more similarities than are often apparent. He contrasts the highly polarized online discourse with the more nuanced and generally positive reality he encounters on the ground.
Santenello's fascination with diverse cultures began in childhood. An early Christmas gift of a book about the Soviet Union sparked a lifelong curiosity about the world beyond his native Vermont. This led to extensive international travel in his youth, exploring less-understood countries before he shifted his focus to his home country.
He launched his YouTube channel in 2009, going full-time in 2017. After living abroad, including in Ukraine where he met his wife and video editor Natalia, the couple returned to the U.S. during the pandemic and decided to document American life.
The book organizes Santenello's findings into four parts: "neither here nor there," focusing on communities preserving cultural heritage; "the underdogs," highlighting places struggling against odds; "the long game," for regions with generational endurance; and "pioneering spirit," for those living ruggedly individual lives.
Santenello often chooses subjects by exploring regions and approaching people directly, though sometimes he is introduced to locals by his audience. His approach in areas like Appalachia, which he notes is often subject to stereotypes, involves building trust with residents who may be wary of outsiders.
In Appalachia, he interviewed a sixth-generation coal miner who spoke about his struggles with OxyContin addiction and his hopes for his son's future. He also spoke with a young woman pursuing a criminal justice degree while working at a pizza restaurant and college students who chose to remain in the region despite its challenges.
His travels have sometimes involved considerable logistical hurdles, such as his trip to St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Lacking conventional accommodations, he slept on a sleeping pad and ended up staying in a clinic, following local advice to place flowers at his door to ward off negative spirits. This experience, however, became one of his favorites, leading him to meet the Siberian Yupik people.
Santenello observed that many communities, including the Chicano population in Los Angeles and the Amish in Ohio, are proud of their distinct identities while also embracing their American heritage. He suggests this layered identity is common to all people, who live as both citizens and individuals.
Having filmed some 250 videos in the U.S. over five years, Santenello continues to explore. He states that each journey leaves him more enthusiastic about the country, emphasizing that much of its richness is often overlooked.