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    Why We're Polarized
    Why We're Polarized
    Why We're Polarized
    Audiobook8 hours

    Why We're Polarized

    Written by Ezra Klein

    Narrated by Ezra Klein

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    Editor's Note

    How did we get here…

    As “compromise” becomes a foreign word in US politics, everyone’s starting to wonder: How did we get into this viciously polarized mess? Vox co-founder Ezra Klein details how “mega-identities” started emerging in the 1960s and have been pulling us further apart ever since. A much-needed overview of the fraying of a nation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJan 28, 2020
    ISBN9781797103167
    Author

    Ezra Klein

    Ezra Klein is a columnist and podcast host at The New York Times. He is the author of Why We’re Polarized, an instant New York Times bestseller, named one of Barack Obama’s top books of 2022. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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    Reviews for Why We're Polarized

    4.5/5

    205 ratings14 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an inspiring and insightful analysis of American politics. It offers a refreshing look into the reasons behind political polarization and the rise of identity politics. While some readers find the book tiring and criticize the author's approach, others appreciate the in-depth analysis and the practical suggestions for addressing polarization. Overall, readers find this book to be thought-provoking, informative, and a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the current political divide in the United States.

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Terrific book, full of the same insightful analysis you can always expect from Ezra Klein. You'll be smarter - and happier - after reading it. You may avoid Twitter more as well, which will also make you happier.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Klein spends a lot of time reviewing academic literature that contributed to his analysis. I find this sort of book tiring, and would prefer that he go get a graduate degree and write a thesis to get it out of his system. Read Chapter 10 for some good ideas.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book, and a great balance of referencing literature and being interesting.
    • 4/5
      Not perfect, however honest, thought provoking, and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
    • 5/5
      Klein’s analysis of American political and cultural polarization has the unique ability to feel both incredibly familiar, and completely surprising. To hear the history and causes of polarization laid bare is helpful and galvanizing; his suggestions for what to do at the macro level are nice, and I hope that his future work discusses a more practical guide to what individuals can do beyond calling our reps.
    • 5/5
      I want everyone I know to read this book. Excellent!
    • 5/5
      An inspiring, in depth analysis of American Politics. Ezra Klein offers a refreshing look into the reason American Politics is polarized as well as the rise of identity politics.
    • 5/5
      Listen on 0.8x speed and you’ll be good ?. It is an amazing book, a must read. If you care about the country you ought to read it.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Ezra Klein is balanced, insightful, and empathetic. It's not too say he's not biased, but anyone who says they aren't biased is just unaware of the ways they are. This book is an epistemologically self aware look into the causes of our current political divide.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great book about social identities and politics, highly recommend to those who are interested in the subject

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This book made us to understand the strange thing happening in USA today where seemingly everything has become a polarizing issue and the things that cause this excessive polarization.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      An honest look at what’s driving Americans apart. A new way of looking at politics - for me, at least.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Ezra really elaborates on the back room work of media, the design of politics, and how people engage with the politics shown to them. This book has been informative, insightful, and despite all the fervor and venom politics today, calming. Bravo.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Ezra is one the biggest media dullards out there. This book is an endless parade of "across the aisle" aphorisms that mean nothing.

      The period of history that he highlights is exceedingly bipartisan. Both parties have been completely captured by corporate interests and austerity thinking. They use to the culture war to convince the public that they have different values but they are a single monolith of global capital.

      Centrism is less convincing each day but media barnacles like Ezra are going to keep publishing books about it till the lights go out