
In Defense of Elitism
Why I'm Better Than You and You're Better Than Someone Who Didn't Buy This Book
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Narrated by:
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Joel Stein
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By:
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Joel Stein
About this listen
From Thurber finalist and former star Time columnist Joel Stein comes a "brilliant exploration" (Walter Isaacson) of America's political culture war and a hilarious call to arms for the elite.
"I can think of no one more suited to defend elitism than Stein, a funny man with hands as delicate as a baby full of soft-boiled eggs."—Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The night Donald Trump won the presidency, our author Joel Stein, Thurber Prize finalist and former staff writer for Time Magazine, instantly knew why. The main reason wasn't economic anxiety or racism. It was that he was anti-elitist. Hillary Clinton represented Wall Street, academics, policy papers, Davos, international treaties and the people who think they're better than you. People like Joel Stein. Trump represented something far more appealing, which was beating up people like Joel Stein.
In a full-throated defense of academia, the mainstream press, medium-rare steak, and civility, Joel Stein fights against populism. He fears a new tribal elite is coming to replace him, one that will fend off expertise of all kinds and send the country hurtling backward to a time of wars, economic stagnation and the well-done steaks doused with ketchup that Trump eats.
To find out how this shift happened and what can be done, Stein spends a week in Roberts County, Texas, which had the highest percentage of Trump voters in the country. He goes to the home of Trump-loving Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams; meets people who create fake news; and finds the new elitist organizations merging both right and left to fight the populists. All the while using the biggest words he knows.
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Critic reviews
"With this indispensable book, Joel Stein firmly establishes himself as the Ted Nugent of elitism."—Andy Borowitz, New York Times bestselling author and writer of The Borowitz Report
"Every paragraph of this book will make you laugh, but it will also (I promise) change the way you think. Joel has written a brilliant exploration of the supposed divide between elites and populists, cleverly disguised as a humorous personal excursion. Like Don Quixote he forays into perilous territory, his lance at his side, and what he finds will surprise you. Deeply reported and poignant, with a light touch of sweet self-awareness, his journey can help us all take our minds to a better place."—Walter Isaacson, the New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Steve Jobs
"[Stein] investigates the contemporary political landscape with a gimlet eye and plenty of humor in this deep dive into our cultural divide."—Town and Country
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Pandora's Box
- How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV
- By: Peter Biskind
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Instead of focusing on one service, like HBO, Pandora’s Box asks, “What did HBO do, besides give us The Sopranos?” The answer: It gave us a revolution. Biskind bites off a big chunk of entertainment history, following HBO from its birth into maturity, moving on to the basic cablers like FX and AMC, and ending up with the streamers and their wars, pitting Netflix against Amazon Prime Video, Max, and the killer pluses—Disney, Apple TV, and Paramount.
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The rise and fall of peak TV
- By AlexBenBlock on 02-16-24
By: Peter Biskind
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Odd Girl Out
- By: Laura James
- Narrated by: Lucinda Clare
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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From childhood, Laura James knew she was different. She struggled to cope in a world that often made no sense to her, as though her brain had its own operating system. It wasn't until she reached her 40s that she found out why: Suddenly and surprisingly, she was diagnosed with autism. With a touching and searing honesty, Laura challenges everything we think we know about what it means to be autistic. Married with four children and a successful journalist, Laura examines the ways in which autism has shaped her career, her approach to motherhood, and her closest relationships.
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Narration is not my favorite
- By Linden on 03-01-21
By: Laura James
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In Case You Get Hit by a Bus
- How to Organize Your Life Now for When You're Not Around Later
- By: Abby Schneiderman, Adam Seifer, Gene Newman
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Even the most disorganized among us can take control of our on- and off-line details so our loved ones won’t have to scramble later. The experts at Everplans make it possible in this essential and easy-to-follow book. Breaking the task down into three levels, from the most urgent (like granting access to passwords), to the technical (creating a manual for the systems in your home), to the nostalgic (assembling a living memory), this clear, step-by-step program not only removes the anxiety and stress from getting your life in order, it’s actually liberating. And deeply satisfying.
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Loved it
- By Ola on 04-20-21
By: Abby Schneiderman, and others
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The Players
- By: Minette Walters
- Narrated by: Emma Gregory
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of The Swift and the Harrier comes The Players comes a gripping historical tale of espionage, treason, and surprising alliances set against the backdrop of the Bloody Assizes—the trials that would determine the fate of over one-thousand treasonous rebels.
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Historical Insight
- By Melanie R. Barbarito on 06-19-25
By: Minette Walters
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I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are
- By: Rachel Bloom
- Narrated by: Rachel Bloom
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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From the charming and wickedly funny cocreator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a collection of hilarious personal essays, poems, and even amusement park maps on the subjects of insecurity, fame, anxiety, and much more.
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Not worth using a "credit"
- By Lynn on 12-08-20
By: Rachel Bloom
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The Self Delusion
- The New Neuroscience of How We Invent—and Reinvent—Our Identities
- By: Gregory Berns
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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We all know we tell stories about ourselves. But as psychiatrist and neuroscientist Gregory Berns argues in The Self Delusion, we don’t just tell stories; we are the stories. Our self-identities are fleeting phenomena, continually reborn as our conscious minds receive, filter, or act on incoming information from the world and our memories.
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Fun & fascinating facts on shaping oneself
- By Lucy A. Pithecus on 10-24-22
By: Gregory Berns
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To Sanctify the World
- The Vital Legacy of Vatican II
- By: George Weigel
- Narrated by: Steven Arthur
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was the most important Catholic event in the past five hundred years. Yet sixty years after its opening on October 11, 1962, its meaning remains sharply contested and its promise unfulfilled. In To Sanctify the World, George Weigel explains the necessity of Vatican II and explores the continuing relevance of its teaching in a world seeking a deeper experience of freedom than personal willfulness.
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Fails to see how Vatican II broke with tradition
- By Amanda S on 12-20-24
By: George Weigel
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The Story of You
- An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self
- By: Ian Morgan Cron
- Narrated by: Ian Morgan Cron
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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With this powerful tool, Cron shows us how each type can shed their broken stories and harness their unique power within to become who we are truly meant to be, shedding the unhappiness we accumulate by trying to live out of the wrong story. Filled with examples from people whose lives have been transformed for the better, Cron maps out a guide for using Enneagram wisdom to reauthor your life and experience deep inner transformation, healing, and happiness.
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Good but miss the mark
- By TJ on 01-11-23
By: Ian Morgan Cron
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Unstoppable Teams
- The Four Essential Actions of High-Performance Leadership
- By: Alden Mills
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Unstoppable Teams show managers at every level, at both large and small organizations, including private, public, and nonprofit, how to inspire, motivate, and lead the people around them.
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Insight from a real team leader.
- By Barry Moniak on 05-01-19
By: Alden Mills
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You Can't Screw This Up
- Why Eating Takeout, Enjoying Dessert, and Taking the Stress Out of Dieting Leads to Weight Loss That Lasts
- By: Adam Bornstein
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the healthiest diet included the foods that were enjoyable and respectful of our stressful, overbooked lives? You couldn’t screw it up! Here’s a can’t-miss plan that will build unbreakable habits by incorporating mindset changes, easy restaurant options, and more from “the perfect person to blaze a better path” (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
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Finally! A magic pill ;-)
- By Dan Y on 05-25-23
By: Adam Bornstein
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Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall
- By: Christophe Lebold
- Narrated by: Vlasta Vrana
- Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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After more than two decades of research and travels, Christophe Lebold, who befriended the poet and spent time with him in Los Angeles, delivers a stimulating analysis of Cohen’s life and art. Gracefully blending biography and essay, he interrogates the mission Cohen set out for himself: to show us that darkness is just the flip side of light.
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Touching view of Leonard’s life.
- By Arturo G. on 12-21-24
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Power
- Why Some People Have It—and Others Don't
- By: Jeffrey Pfeffer
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Some people have it, and others don’t. Jeffrey Pfeffer explores why in Power. One of the greatest minds in management theory and author or co-author of thirteen books, including the seminal business-school text Managing With Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer shows listeners how to succeed and wield power in the real world.
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A mediocre book
- By Shayan Fazeli on 02-16-23
By: Jeffrey Pfeffer
An entertaining and informative listen
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Brilliant Assessment, with Laugh-Out-Loud Humor
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Super funny!
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I absolutely recommend this! And so did my husband (who went to a “college in New Jersey” and law school in Northern California, “where the mascot is a tree”, although we no longer live in California (but two of our children do) i felt like Joel wrote this book for me..... albeit to illuminate my shortcomings, hypocrisy, and my elitism.
I admit I have never laughed so hard reading a book. Although, mostly I was laughing at myself. This book is self deprecating and brutally honest and in some way could be thought of as an olive branch to the groups of people we tend to alienate, willingly and unwillingly.
I learned something new for ex: about boat elitists and that I have a new crush, his name is Joel Stein.
Bravo! I’m off to read more books by you. I confess, the only non-fiction authors I’ve read were John Meecham, Trevor Noah and Malcolm Gladwell.
Oooh .....does that sound smug?
Laughed, snorted and cracked up out loud
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loved it!
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A wake up call for the intelligent.
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I loved this.
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Love the perspective
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funny and informative
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I NEEDED this book!
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