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Why We're Polarized Audiobook
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Publisher Description
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.
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"Ezra's Klein's book is an exceptional analysis of America's current political polarization. He offers a thoughtful balance of history, social science and psychology to trace the path of how the nation's politics have become so divided and the impact on the present and future. Highly recommended to anyone looking for insight on how the US got here and where it is going as far as political polarization. "
— alex1839 (5 out of 5 stars)
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“A fascinating book, rich in politics, history, psychology and more.”
— New York Times -
“Eye-opening…Klein’s brilliant diagnosis and prescription provide a path to understanding—and healing.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“Klein offers a detailed if depressing analysis of the political divisions currently plaguing America, explaining why a bias toward geography instead of people is baked into our system and likely to make matters worse.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Klein traces the path of polarization from a time when the Republican and Democratic parties were virtually indistinguishable from each other to today.”
— Seattle Times -
“Well worth reading.”
— New York magazine -
“With YA crossover appeal, Klein’s accessible work is for anyone wondering how we got here; it shows how understanding history can help us plan for the future."
— Library Journal -
“[Klein] 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…Listeners who want a nuanced and provocative discussion of our politically divided nation will find fertile turf here.”
— AudioFile -
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."
Awards
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New York Times bestseller
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Wall Street Journal bestseller
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
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A New York Times Bestseller in Audio
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A Midwest Indie Bestseller in Hardcover Nonfiction
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About Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein is the editor-at-large and cofounder of Vox, the award-winning explanatory news organization reaching over 50 million people across its platforms each month. He is also the host of the podcast The Ezra Klein Show, cohost of the Weeds podcast, and an executive producer on Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. Previously, he was a columnist and editor at the Washington Post, a policy analyst at MSNBC, and a contributor to Bloomberg. He has written for the New Yorker and New York Review of Books and appeared on Face the Nation, The Daily Show, PBS NewsHour, and many more.