Adam Seth Levine is an assistant professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. He has published in a variety of outlets such as the Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, Review of Behavioral Economics, and Political Communication. His work has won numerous awards, including the 2011 E. E. Schattschneider Prize. This prize is the highest dissertation award in the field of American government and is given annually by the American Political Science Association.

"I admire American Insecurity for several reasons. The author is quite transparent about his assumptions and procedures, and his writing is to the point and jargon free. The main findings (in Chapters 5 and 6) should interest academics and should give parties and interest groups insights into mobilizing citizens more effectively. Finally, Levine has found a way to explain nonparticipation in politics besides indifference, alienation, or abject poverty. The people at the heart of this book are trying hard to sustain their standard of living, and harping on their financial insecurities is not likely to make them engage more with politics. That sort of mindset does not make them small- minded or self-centered, in my view; it makes them human."---Christopher Howard, Perspectives on Politics --- "The book does a wonderful job of highlighting political interest and (lack of) activity around a set of important social issues, but the contribution to a larger theory of participation is important as well. . . . The book should be appreciated by scholars of political behavior, political psychology, or political rhetoric who should welcome the theory and analysis that Levine provides in demonstrating the self-undermining nature of certain types of political rhetoric."---Hans Hassell, Public Opinion Quarterly --- "Powerful and highly accessible. . . . Levine has succeeded in shining a light on the disconcerting reality that many citizens abstain from getting involved in addressing the very issues that deeply affect and permeate their everyday lives."---John V. Kane and Jason Barabas, Journal of Politics --- "This provocative volume identifies the ‘self-undermining' political rhetoric inherent in the discussion of important economic issues as the driving reason contemporary working-and middle-class Americans have not produced political movements corresponding to the scale of the financial challenges they face. . . . The research presented here is an interesting, well-defended addition to the literature on the nature of collective political action." --- "Levine provides evidence that financially anxious people respond to their stress not by grouping together for action but by becoming less generous with their checkbooks and personal time." --- "Winner of the 2016 Best Book Award, Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association"