Leaning Left follows Dr. Dunehawk, a retired Wisconsin professor forced out under rising right-wing pressures, as he recounts the intertwined journeys of three former students-Khloe, Patrick, and Walter-who are drawn from their Midwestern roots into global struggles for justice. What begins as a series of road trips and artistic pursuits expands into a transformative experience in Oaxaca, Mexico, where encounters with history, art, and political protest collide with international corporate power and Indigenous resistance. Through their stories, the novel examines the social, historical, and spiritual forces that shape identity on the left side of the political spectrum amid an era of intensifying right-wing backlash.