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Why We're Polarized

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About this listen

A Barack Obama and a Bill Gates Summer Reading Pick 2022

A New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller

America's political system isn't broken. The truth is scarier: it's working exactly as designed.

In Why We're Polarized, Ezra Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America's deep political divisions, revealing how a system filled with rational, functional parts can combine into a dysfunctional whole. 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 politicisation of everyday culture.

Klein shows how and why American politics polarised in the twentieth century, what that polarisation did to Americans' views of the world and one another, and how feedback loops between polarised political identities and polarised political institutions drive the system toward crisis. This revelatory book will change how you look at politics, and perhaps at yourself.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Ezra Klein (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK Elections & Political Process Politics & Government Sociology Liberalism Socialism Social justice

Critic reviews

"This book helped me understand modern politics better." (Bill Gates, Summer Reading Pick 2022)

"Superbly researched and written." (Francis Fukuyama, The Washington Post)

"It's been a long time since I learned so much from one book." (Rutger Bregman author of Utopia for Realists)
All stars
Most relevant
Discovering Ezra Klein's podcast reminded me that I bought his book a while ago. He is bright and bold and his narration is superb.

Illuminating

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Anyone interested in understanding modern US politics or politics in general should read/listen to this. Ezra Klein expertly describes how our sense of identity and political systems have lead to a increasingly polarized America, and how this lead to Trump's election

A great guide to modern politics

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Nothing but all about the USA, when writing about politics, you need to include more countries and theories

All about USA

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Interesting analysis but no solutions at all
In the book. And very partisan at all times.

No solutions

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