Saul Alinsky: Classic or Dud

Is this guy worth reading? Is Rules for Radicals the best starting place? Would his ideas work in rural America?

Yes, he's worth reading, but I'd start with Horwitt's biography, Let Them Call Me Rebel, which gives a better sense of how he actually carried out community organizing. Having read that you'll be in a better position to decide whether you'd like to read his thoughts circa the 40s (Reveille for Radicals) or the 60s (Rules for Radicals) (or both; or neither).

As for whether his ideas can work in rural America, you can ask the Tea Party, factions of which (notably Freedom Works) have considered Alinsky to be required reading.

BTW Trump himself deploys many tactics that could have been pulled straight out of the Alinsky playbook (e.g., ridiculing, confusing, and provoking the enemy).

The answers are: skimming. sure. it's prob too late.