The Big Sort
Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart
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Narrated by:
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Paul Brion
About this listen
In 2004, journalist Bill Bishop coined the term "the big sort". Armed with startling new demographic data, he made national news in a series of articles showing how Americans have been sorting themselves into alarmingly homogeneous communities - not by region or by state but by city and even neighborhood. Over the past three decades, we have been choosing the neighborhoods (and churches and news shows) compatible with our lifestyles and beliefs. The result is a country that has become so polarized, so ideologically inbred, that people don't know and can't understand those who live a few miles away. How this came to be, and its dire implications for our country, is the subject of this groundbreaking work. In The Big Sort, Bishop has taken his analysis to a new level. He begins with stories about how we live today and then draws on history, economics, and our changing political landscape to create one of the most compelling big-picture accounts of America in recent memory.
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What can I say? I loved it.
- By Blake on 03-02-14
By: Chuck Thompson
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The Great Revolt
- Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics
- By: Salena Zito, Brad Todd
- Narrated by: Bob Hess
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Standout syndicated columnist and CNN contributor Salena Zito, with veteran Republican strategist Brad Todd, reports across five swing states and over 27,000 miles to answer the pressing question: Was Donald Trump's election a fluke or did it represent a fundamental shift in the electorate that will have repercussions - for Republicans and Democrats - for years to come.
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Explaining Trump's 2016 presidential victory
- By Wayne on 05-10-18
By: Salena Zito, and others
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American Grace
- How Religion Divides and Unites Us
- By: Robert D. Putnam, David E. Campbell
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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American Grace takes its findings from two of the largest, most comprehensive surveys ever conducted on religion and public life in America, plus in-depth studies of diverse congregations---among them a megachurch, a Mormon congregation, a Catholic parish, a reform Jewish synagogue, and an African American congregation.
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Interesting Analysis
- By Daniel on 10-08-12
By: Robert D. Putnam, and others
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Moyers on Democracy
- By: Bill Moyers
- Narrated by: Bill Moyers
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
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People know Bill Moyers mostly from his many years of path-breaking journalism on television. But he is also one of America's most sought-after public speakers. His appearances draw sell-out crowds across the country and are among the most reproduced on the Web. Richly insightful, and alive with a fierce, abiding love for our country, Moyers on Democracy is essential listening.
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You can't help but think critically
- By Ida F. on 09-29-09
By: Bill Moyers
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Coming Apart
- The State of White America, 1960–2010
- By: Charles Murray
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Coming Apart, Charles Murray explores the formation of American classes that are different in kind from anything we have ever known, focusing on whites as a way of driving home the fact that the trends he describes do not break along lines of race or ethnicity.
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Brilliant & Flawed
- By Douglas C. Bates on 05-15-12
By: Charles Murray
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Bannon
- Always the Rebel
- By: Keith Koffler
- Narrated by: William LeRoy
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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To understand the Trump White House, you need to understand Steve Bannon: what's driving him, what his true role is, and what he's trying to accomplish on behalf of the American middle class. White House reporter Keith Koffler penetrates the fog surrounding the mysterious senior White House advisor, tracing Bannon's wild and distinctly American path to the White House in this first-ever honest biography of the controversial figure.
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The "real" Steve Bannon! Great read!
- By Amazon Customer on 12-20-17
By: Keith Koffler
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The Politics of Resentment
- Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker
- By: Katherine J. Cramer
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walker not only survived a bitterly contested recall that brought thousands of protesters to Capitol Square, he was subsequently reelected. How could this happen? How is it that the very people who stand to benefit from strong government services not only vote against the candidates who support those services but are vehemently against the very idea of big government?
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Important, but shallow
- By Catherine Spiller on 12-11-18
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The Age of American Unreason
- By: Susan Jacoby
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon - one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, Jacoby surveys an antirationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought".
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Interesting, but explanation by redescription
- By T. Andrew Poehlman on 07-15-08
By: Susan Jacoby
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Ghetto
- The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea
- By: Mitchell Duneier
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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On March 29, 1516, the city council of Venice issued a decree forcing Jews to live in il geto - a closed quarter named for the copper foundry that once occupied the area. The term stuck. In this sweeping and original interpretation, Mitchell Duneier traces the idea of the ghetto from its beginnings in the 16th century and its revival by the Nazis to the present. As Duneier shows, we cannot understand the entanglements of race, poverty, and place in America today without recalling the history of the ghetto in Europe, as well as later efforts to understand the problems of the American city.
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Impressive
- By Jean on 12-10-16
By: Mitchell Duneier
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Outsider in the White House
- Special Audio Edition
- By: Bernie Sanders, Huck Gutman, John Nichols - afterword
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett, Brian Sutherland
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
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Bernie Sanders' campaign for the presidency of the United States has galvanized supporters all over the country, drawing attention to issues of economic, racial, and social justice and spotlighting one of the most interesting and unconventional candidates in decades.
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Behind the Scenes with Bernie--- WORTH it!
- By Susie on 02-23-16
By: Bernie Sanders, and others
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Author can't see beyond his own bias.
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What listeners say about The Big Sort
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-23-19
Build the Wall?
In the backdrop of highly vitriolic debate about the effectiveness and morality of walls that is dividing our nation , I read this sad but fascinating book about just that: the effectiveness and detriment of walls. This book about walls does not discuss metal or concrete, height or length, but discusses the walls being built ideologically around geographic locations, as well as social institutions. These walls hide the view of the humanity that we all share, from the viewer on the other side. Please read if you want to feel challenged an “unsafe” about your own political isolation. That’s what this book did for me. Fantastic and very needed book for these times. #hugapoliticalfoe
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4 people found this helpful
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- P Willis
- 08-07-24
Relevant, even though it was written in 2008
This is an absolutely fantastic book about how the country has become much more polarized because we seek out like-minded people in neighborhoods, churches, and clubs. I wish it could be updated for 2024.
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- Todd
- 08-07-18
A little dated but still relevant
The best explanation I have yet read concerning how our nation evolved into what it is today.
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- Interstellar Review
- 12-09-23
Authors must have had a crystal ball!
Well done, very enjoyable book! Would recommend to anyone who seeks to better understand today’s political landscape.
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- Courtland J Schafer
- 02-05-18
Everyone has something to learn from this book
I think everyone could learn something from this book. It is full of information on how we’ve sorted ourselves, and how that effects our daily lives. Highly recommend it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- goundo101
- 07-29-18
Excellent book, but repetitive at times
interesting and informative. However, the author seems oddly hung up on religion - he seems desperate to categorize religion as a good, and to deny that the left is becoming less religious. He also seems to have a bias in favor of a strong central government, and laments that the tides seem to be going the other way. Finally, the narrator is very slow. Would play at ~1.2x.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-05-19
essential reading for any political analyst
this book is very important for anybody that analyzes political trends in the United States. a lot of what we're dealing with today has its roots in what this book talks about.
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- Orlando S.
- 10-27-24
Intriguing research discoveries
Fascinating research results and thorough explanation of each category of society and how they relate to the tribal nature in human psychology
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- Ryan B
- 08-31-17
Wandering biopic of Boomer politics
I liked the historic, religious, demographic and political sorting anecdotes. I didn't like the use of percentages of change without scope. For example, if votes for LGBT rights doubled then what percentage of all voters did that result in? The book is very long to make a point that could've been made more efficiently with graphics using census and voting data. Every generation may think they have invented sex because they don't discuss it with parents. Sorting isn't new, might be more pronounced thanks to a shrinking world.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jason Fritz
- 09-02-21
Compelling narrative of our recent social shifts
Very detailed narrative, relating the parallel drives behind our increasingly cloistered lives, churches, social gatherings, and self-made niches. Our most recent social experiment, which started with the weighty events in 1965, and continue today.
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