
Profiles in Ignorance
How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber
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Narrated by:
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Andy Borowitz
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By:
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Andy Borowitz
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER *WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER *
Andy Borowitz, “one of the funniest people in America” (CBS Sunday Morning), brilliantly “chronicles our embrace of anti-intellectualism” (Walter Isaacson) in American politics, from Ronald Reagan to Dan Quayle, from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin, to its apotheosis in Donald J. Trump.
Andy Borowitz has been called a “Swiftian satirist” (The Wall Street Journal) and “one of the country’s finest satirists” (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column “The Borowitz Report.” Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he delivers “a wittily alarming polemic that tracks the evolution of American politics from grounds for gravitas to festival of idiocy” (The New York Times).
Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the US has elected politicians to positions of great power whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades.
Profiles in Ignorance aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of these public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most importantly, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn’t move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Andy Borowitz. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Andy Borowitz, writer, humorist, actor, and creator of the often bitingly satirical “Borowitz Report,” which skewers contemporary politics and politicians at every turn, has in his new audiobook set his sights on the rise of ignorance in American politics. In a sharp turn from John F. Kennedy's classic PROFILES IN COURAGE, which highlighted bravery and integrity in politics, Borowitz's PROFILES IN IGNORANCE features a cavalcade of politicians who, Borowitz argues, are sorely lacking in the knowledge necessary to govern. Borowitz’s narration enables him to inject a measure of sarcasm and irony into the material. His convincing parodies of the vocal cadences of various featured politicians add a further humorous touch."—AudioFile Magazine
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Story
During 1954-1955, John F. Kennedy, then a US senator, chose eight of his historical colleagues to profile for their acts of astounding integrity in the face of overwhelming opposition. These heroes include John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, and Robert A. Taft. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1957, Profiles in Courage - now reissued, featuring a new introduction by Caroline Kennedy as well as Robert Kennedy's foreword written for the memorial edition of the volume in 1964 - resounds with timeless lessons.
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Abridged
- By Tom R on 01-04-17
By: John F. Kennedy
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Why We're Polarized
- By: Ezra Klein
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Why We’re Polarized, Klein 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.
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Good as an intro, skip if you’re a wonk
- By Tony on 01-29-20
By: Ezra Klein
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Idiot America
- How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free
- By: Charles P. Pierce
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The culture wars are over and the idiots have won. This is a veteran journalist’s caustically funny, righteously angry lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States. The three Great Premises of Idiot America: · Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units; anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough; "fact" is that which enough people believe. And "truth" is determined by how fervently they believe it.
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You Get What You Paid For
- By Vargas on 09-19-11
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It Was All a Lie
- How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump
- By: Stuart Stevens
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Stuart Stevens spent decades electing Republicans at every level, from presidents to senators to local officials. He knows the GOP as intimately as anyone in America, and in this new book he offers a devastating portrait of a party that has lost its moral and political compass. This is not a book about how Donald J. Trump hijacked the Republican Party and changed it into something else.
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A party gone astray
- By Devin on 08-07-20
By: Stuart Stevens
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Hit Makers
- The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction
- By: Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Derek Thompson
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing "goes viral". If you think a popular movie, song, or app came out of nowhere to become a word-of-mouth success in today's crowded media environment, you're missing the real story. Each blockbuster has a secret history - of power, influence, dark broadcasters, and passionate cults that turn some new products into cultural phenomena. In his groundbreaking investigation, Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson uncovers the hidden psychology of why we like what we like.
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Starts of saying “The Tipping Point” book was wrong but then...
- By Venusian Incognito on 03-25-18
By: Derek Thompson
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Weapons of Mass Delusion
- When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind
- By: Robert Draper
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a terrible day for American democracy, but many people dared to hope that at least it would break the fever that had overcome the Republican Party and banish Trump's relentless lies about the stealing of the 2020 election. That is not what happened. Instead, “the big steal” has become dogma among an ever-higher percentage of American Republicans. What happened to the Republican Party, and America, during the Trump presidency is a story we more or less think we know.
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If you had told me ...
- By kimberly stewart on 10-30-22
By: Robert Draper
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The Idealist
- Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet
- By: Justin Peters
- Narrated by: Corey Brill
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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A smart, lively history of the Internet free culture movement and its larger effects on society - and the life and shocking suicide of Aaron Swartz, a founding developer of Reddit and Creative Commons - from Slate correspondent Justin Peters.
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Nothing New But a Good Reminder
- By Lulu on 02-20-16
By: Justin Peters
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Our Future Is Biotech
- A Plain English Guide to How a Tech Revolution is Changing Our Lives and Our Health for the Better
- By: Andrew Craig
- Narrated by: Andrew Craig
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Apples, Amazons and Googles of the next few decades will be biotech companies. The tech companies of the last few years have changed how we do things but the businesses driving the biotech revolution are about making life better. These companies will solve many of our most intractable problems: cancer, dementia, diabetes, elderly care, mental health challenges, even power generation and agricultural production. The audiobook explains what biotech is, what is coming next, and in a final section, how interested investors can profit from it.
By: Andrew Craig
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Tired of Winning
- Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party
- By: Jonathan Karl
- Narrated by: Jonathan Karl
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Packed with new reporting, Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party tracks Trump’s improbable journey from disgraced and defeated former president to the dominant force, yet again, in the Republican Party. From his exile in Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump has become more extreme, vengeful, and divorced from reality than he was on January 6, 2021. His meddling damaged the GOP’s electoral prospects and his legal troubles were mounting. Yet he re-emerged as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the president-elect.
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Compelling and Terrifying
- By Shaz on 11-15-23
By: Jonathan Karl
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The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
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America Needs to Know the Truth and Dangers of Trump
- By Tiberius on 12-01-24
By: Joe Conason
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American Kleptocracy
- How the U.S. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History
- By: Casey Michel
- Narrated by: Joe Dwyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A remarkable debut by one of America's premier young reporters on financial corruption, American Kleptocracy offers the first explosive investigation into how the United States of America built the largest illicit offshore finance system the world has ever known.
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Brilliant, timely, a cautionary tale
- By Victoria Eriksson on 11-24-21
By: Casey Michel
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Lying for Money
- How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World
- By: Dan Davies
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The way most white-collar crime works is by manipulating institutional psychology. That means creating something that looks as much as possible like a normal set of transactions. The drama comes later, when it all unwinds. Financial crime seems horribly complicated, but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what’s theirs.
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Very interesting book!
- By Ebong Eka on 02-21-22
By: Dan Davies
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The Seven Tensions of Negotiation
- Breathe and Let the Opposition Make the Tough Decisions
- By: Cash Nickerson
- Narrated by: Cash Nickerson
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Negotiation is a basic human activity that arises out of wants, desires, needs, and disputes. You want something I have. I want to trade for something you have. You believe I wronged you, and you want damages. As organized collections of people, we negotiate terms of exchange. In The Seven Tensions of Negotiation, you’ll discover how to simply say “maybe not” and leverage the seven tensions of negotiation to your advantage.
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This isn’t just another dull book on negotiation—this author is the real deal.
- By Lisa Loeffel on 01-17-25
By: Cash Nickerson
What listeners say about Profiles in Ignorance
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- Dave
- 10-02-22
Well researched and insightful.
Discussion of political issues that is knowledgeable, based on facts, and insightful. What we have expected from American humorists such as Will Rogers and Mort Sahl.
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- Vicki F-S
- 09-26-22
Much More To This Book Than Expected
Funny. Witty. Brilliant. At times shocking. Serious and Important. Incredibly well researched. And an excellent reading.
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- Pete S.
- 10-25-22
A Masterpiece in Political Analysis
Andy Borowitz offers an astute analysis of US political descent into intellectual and moral abyss, starting with the Reagan era and culminating with today. His talent for wit, irony, and humor shines, as he lays bare the ignorance of political candidates and office holders, which are overwhelmingly found in the Republican Party. The stages of ignorance are a prescient and urgent warning to get our sh*t together to preserve democracy and the Republic.
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-08-22
Loved it!
Thank you, Andy, for keeping us sane, and even laughing, during the dark years of 45's reign and the pandemic. Also, thanks for reminding us we are not powerless.
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- lindam@islands.vi
- 11-15-22
Well worth listening to.
This book help me see how our “leadership” has become progressively worse. It was fascinating to listen as I heard about many events and politicians I’ve lived through in my 72 years.
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- J. P. Ryan
- 02-21-23
Great All Around But dreadfully frightening
It’s oh so funny in organization and deliverance, however the facts are dreadfully frightening! The facts about most of those covered is alarming to say the least! However what that says about education in the United States of American is appalling, frightening and ludicrous! America is so large that ome citizens will never in their lives experience traveling outside its borders to understand the vastness and smallness of their own country! Nor will they be able to grasp or comprehend what that actually means to them individually and collectively to themselves, their families, their neighbors and coworkers and how that impedes their understanding of what they perceive is happening, verses what they think they know, what the facts tell, that their aren’t any alternate facts and how they are led to misconstrue what is going on while they are spoon fed “f as CT’s” by FOX News❣️. Nor more than likely they will never know how purposefully and willingly they drink the coo aid & feel great, patriotic while they are clueless about the utter nonsense & drivel they want to be factual but has actually no basis or purpose other than dividing them from reality, depriving them of their Constitutional rights including exercising their right of self governing as many in power laugh at their gullibility. So sad.
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- Tawnykt
- 03-13-23
Loved it
Sometimes hard to believe, but apparently well documented. The author had an amazing wit and was very entertaining. If you have the slightest conservative leanings, I wouldn’t even crack the cover. Book metaphor aside, get the audible version, it was a hoot.
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- Barry Rubin
- 09-18-22
The best book I've ever listened to or read
My G*d what a book. AB is one of the geniuses of our time. I don't know what else to say except I'd like to rate it a 10. The last chapter is quite the cherry.
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- Colleen Adams
- 09-20-22
The best book
great book very funny and makes you think what the hell going on in there head's 😳
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- Molly Weasley
- 12-21-22
Outstanding
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned a lot. I highly recommend it. It’s very, very easy to listen to, injecting humor into a topic that is quite worrisome, but it does far more than that: it paints a picture of how we got here and concludes with absolutely sound advice for the path going forward.
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