Why We're Polarized (CD-Audio)
$32.99
Backordered
Staff Reviews
Klein takes a thoughtful and thorough look at the history and psychology that has turned American politics so toxic. The historical overview showing how Republicans and Democrats have reversed positions over the last half century to the chasm that now divides conservative Republicans from liberal Democrats. But history is only part of the story in this remarkable book. Psychology plays a huge part in our polarization. Media, not surprisingly, plays a big part, too. He makes the excellent point that "white male Christian" is as much an identity as black, Hispanic, female or whatever. And our current politics are identity politics. The whole thing is both horrifying in the depth of our animosity toward one another and hopeful in the possibility that change could happen. I can't recommend this highly enough.
— LisaDescription
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022
One of Bill Gates’s “5 books to read this summer,” this New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this “superbly researched” (The Washington Post) and timely book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results.
“The American political system—which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president—is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,” writes political analyst Ezra Klein. “We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.”
“A thoughtful, clear and persuasive analysis” (The New York Times Book Review), Why We’re Polarized reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture.
America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together.
Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the 20th century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis.
“Well worth reading” (New York magazine), this is an “eye-opening” (O, The Oprah Magazine) book that will change how you look at politics—and perhaps at yourself.
About the Author
Ezra Klein is a columnist at The New York Times, where he hosts The Ezra Klein Show. Previously, he was the cofounder, editor in chief, and then editor at large at Vox; a columnist and editor at the Washington Post; a political analyst at MSNBC; and a contributor to Bloomberg.
Ezra Klein is a columnist at The New York Times, where he hosts The Ezra Klein Show. Previously, he was the cofounder, editor in chief, and then editor at large at Vox; a columnist and editor at the Washington Post; a political analyst at MSNBC; and a contributor to Bloomberg.
Praise For…
"Ezra Klein, a political junkie who cofounded the website Vox, narrates his audiobook precisely, purposefully, and passionately. Often a guest on TV news programs, he has a delivery style that is direct and approachable. He conveys the urgency of his arguments with a kind of polite candor and frequently notes how ironic our politics have become, with many voters choosing partisanship over self-interest. Most telling, he takes on the unfairness built into a system in which his home state of California, with almost 40 million residents, has the same number of senators as Wyoming, with not quite 600,000. Klein is especially good at explaining how we got to our present situation, calling the Trump phenomenon 'predictable.' Listeners who want a nuanced and provocative discussion of our politically divided nation will find fertile turf here."
— AudioFile Magazine
