The Death of Truth
Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $13.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tavia Gilbert
-
By:
-
Michiko Kakutani
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize–winning critic comes an impassioned critique of America’s retreat from reason
We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases.
How did truth become an endangered species in contemporary America? This decline began decades ago, and in The Death of Truth, former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and politics, Kakutani identifies the trends—originating on both the right and the left—that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant.
With remarkable erudition and insight, Kakutani offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and points toward a new path for our truth-challenged times.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word
- How Six Everyday Products Make the Case for Trade
- By: Fred P. Hochberg
- Narrated by: Fred P. Hochberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trade allows us to sell what we produce at home and purchase what we don’t. It lowers prices and gives us greater variety and innovation. Yet understanding our place in the global trade network is rarely simple. Trade has become an easy excuse for struggling economies, a scapegoat for our failures to adapt to a changing world, and - for many Americans on both the right and the left - nothing short of a four-letter word. But as Fred P. Hochberg reminds us, trade is easier to understand than we commonly think.
-
-
Instructive book on trade.
- By edchair on 01-22-23
By: Fred P. Hochberg
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 for third consecutive election in 2022. His legal troubles are mounting. Yet he re-emerged as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
-
-
Compelling and Terrifying
- By Shaz on 11-15-23
By: Jonathan Karl
-
The Decadent Society
- How We Became a Victim of Our Own Success
- By: Ross Douthat
- Narrated by: Ross Douthat
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The era of the coronavirus has tested America, and our leaders and institutions have conspicuously failed. That failure shouldn’t be surprising: Beneath social-media frenzy and reality-television politics, our era’s deep truths are elite incompetence, cultural exhaustion, and the flight from reality into fantasy. The Decadent Society explains what happens when a powerful society ceases advancing - how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemate, and demographic decline creates a unique civilizational crisis.
-
-
Another Liberal Arts Intellectual who does not rea
- By Trebla on 03-24-20
By: Ross Douthat
-
Win Every Argument
- The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking
- By: Mehdi Hasan
- Narrated by: Mehdi Hasan
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan isn’t one to avoid arguments. He relishes them as the lifeblood of democracy and the only surefire way to establish the truth. Arguments help us solve problems, uncover new ideas we might not have considered, and nudge our disagreements toward mutual understanding. A good argument, made in good faith, has intrinsic value—and can also simply be fun.
-
-
Would be much better without politics
- By David Fair on 03-17-23
By: Mehdi Hasan
-
Fascism
- A Warning
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the 1980s, when the Cold War ended, many, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, believed that democracy had triumphed politically once and for all. Yet nearly 30 years later, the direction of history no longer seems certain. A repressive and destructive force has begun to reemerge on the global stage - sweeping across Europe, parts of Asia, and the United States - that to Albright, looks very much like fascism.
-
-
Warning!
- By JAL on 04-19-18
-
The Meritocracy Trap
- How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite
- By: Daniel Markovits
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is an axiom of American life that advantage should be earned through ability and effort. Even as the country divides itself at every turn, the meritocratic ideal - that social and economic rewards should follow achievement rather than breeding - reigns supreme. Both Democrats and Republicans insistently repeat meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we are. It sustains the American dream.
-
-
A well-argued theory
- By Fountain of Chris on 09-20-19
By: Daniel Markovits
-
Trade Is Not a Four-Letter Word
- How Six Everyday Products Make the Case for Trade
- By: Fred P. Hochberg
- Narrated by: Fred P. Hochberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trade allows us to sell what we produce at home and purchase what we don’t. It lowers prices and gives us greater variety and innovation. Yet understanding our place in the global trade network is rarely simple. Trade has become an easy excuse for struggling economies, a scapegoat for our failures to adapt to a changing world, and - for many Americans on both the right and the left - nothing short of a four-letter word. But as Fred P. Hochberg reminds us, trade is easier to understand than we commonly think.
-
-
Instructive book on trade.
- By edchair on 01-22-23
By: Fred P. Hochberg
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 for third consecutive election in 2022. His legal troubles are mounting. Yet he re-emerged as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
-
-
Compelling and Terrifying
- By Shaz on 11-15-23
By: Jonathan Karl
-
The Decadent Society
- How We Became a Victim of Our Own Success
- By: Ross Douthat
- Narrated by: Ross Douthat
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The era of the coronavirus has tested America, and our leaders and institutions have conspicuously failed. That failure shouldn’t be surprising: Beneath social-media frenzy and reality-television politics, our era’s deep truths are elite incompetence, cultural exhaustion, and the flight from reality into fantasy. The Decadent Society explains what happens when a powerful society ceases advancing - how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemate, and demographic decline creates a unique civilizational crisis.
-
-
Another Liberal Arts Intellectual who does not rea
- By Trebla on 03-24-20
By: Ross Douthat
-
Win Every Argument
- The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking
- By: Mehdi Hasan
- Narrated by: Mehdi Hasan
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan isn’t one to avoid arguments. He relishes them as the lifeblood of democracy and the only surefire way to establish the truth. Arguments help us solve problems, uncover new ideas we might not have considered, and nudge our disagreements toward mutual understanding. A good argument, made in good faith, has intrinsic value—and can also simply be fun.
-
-
Would be much better without politics
- By David Fair on 03-17-23
By: Mehdi Hasan
-
Fascism
- A Warning
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the 1980s, when the Cold War ended, many, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, believed that democracy had triumphed politically once and for all. Yet nearly 30 years later, the direction of history no longer seems certain. A repressive and destructive force has begun to reemerge on the global stage - sweeping across Europe, parts of Asia, and the United States - that to Albright, looks very much like fascism.
-
-
Warning!
- By JAL on 04-19-18
-
The Meritocracy Trap
- How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite
- By: Daniel Markovits
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is an axiom of American life that advantage should be earned through ability and effort. Even as the country divides itself at every turn, the meritocratic ideal - that social and economic rewards should follow achievement rather than breeding - reigns supreme. Both Democrats and Republicans insistently repeat meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we are. It sustains the American dream.
-
-
A well-argued theory
- By Fountain of Chris on 09-20-19
By: Daniel Markovits
-
Four Hundred Souls
- A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
- By: Ibram X. Kendi - editor, Keisha N. Blain - editor
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A chorus of extraordinary voices comes together to tell one of history’s great epics: the 400-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present - edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.
-
-
History never taught
- By Scott P ODonnell on 02-16-21
By: Ibram X. Kendi - editor, and others
-
Leadership
- Six Studies in World Strategy
- By: Henry Kissinger
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders—Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Richard Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Lee Kuan Yew, and Margaret Thatcher—through the distinctive strategies of statecraft that he believes they embodied. To each of these studies, Kissinger brings historical perception, public experience and, because he knew each of the subjects and participated in many of the events he describes, personal knowledge.
-
-
Architects of World Order
- By GrimLockz on 09-21-22
By: Henry Kissinger
-
How Fascism Works
- The Politics of Us and Them
- By: Jason Stanley
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century.
-
-
A Warning Too Clear to Ignore
- By Chip Auger on 10-30-18
By: Jason Stanley
-
Tyranny of the Minority
- Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
- By: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. But the prospect of change has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the very foundations of our political system. Why is democracy under assault here, and not in other wealthy, diversifying nations? And what can we do to save it?
-
-
Tyranny of the Minority
- By orders on 10-07-23
By: Steven Levitsky, and others
-
Corruptible
- Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us
- By: Brian Klaas
- Narrated by: Brian Klaas
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An “absorbing, provocative, and far-reaching” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) look at what power is, who gets it, and what happens when they do, based on over 500 interviews with those who (temporarily, at least) have had the upper hand - from the creator of the Power Corrupts podcast and Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas.
-
-
Not much substance
- By Nathan Parker on 04-06-22
By: Brian Klaas
-
Blowback
- A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump
- By: Miles Taylor
- Narrated by: Miles Taylor
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Donald Trump will be president again, whether he is on the ballot or not. That is because Trumpism is overtaking the Republican Party and will mount a vigorous comeback, potentially in the hands of a savvier successor. This prophecy will come true, according to Miles Taylor, if we do not learn the lessons of the recent past. With the 2024 election approaching, the formerly “Anonymous” official is back with bombshell revelations and a sobering national forecast. Taylor predicts what could happen inside “Trump 2.0,” the White House of a more competent and more formidable copycat.
-
-
We will only have ourselves to blame if we sink into autocracy
- By MS on 07-23-23
By: Miles Taylor
-
How Democracies Die
- By: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Democracies can die with a coup d'état - or they can die slowly. This happens most deceptively when in piecemeal fashion, with the election of an authoritarian leader, the abuse of governmental power and the complete repression of opposition. All three steps are being taken around the world - not least with the election of Donald Trump - and we must all understand how we can stop them.
-
-
Connecting the Dots
- By Sharon F on 02-06-18
By: Steven Levitsky, and others
-
Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- By: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled.
-
-
History through a far left lens
- By Josh on 09-03-20
By: Kurt Andersen
-
Billion Dollar Whale
- By: Bradley Hope, Tom Wright
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now a number-one international best seller, Billion Dollar Whale is "an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale" (Publishers Weekly), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest heists in history. In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude—one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system.
-
-
Couldn’t stop listening!
- By N Lane on 10-05-18
By: Bradley Hope, and others
-
The Origins of Totalitarianism
- By: Hannah Arendt
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 23 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This classic, definitive account of totalitarianism traces the emergence of modern racism as an "ideological weapon for imperialism", beginning with the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in the 19th century and continuing through the New Imperialism period from 1884 to World War I.
-
-
Vast and intricate analysis of horror
- By Roger on 08-04-08
By: Hannah Arendt
-
The Authoritarian Moment
- How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent
- By: Ben Shapiro
- Narrated by: Ben Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to the establishment media, the intelligentsia, and our political chattering class, the greatest threat to American freedom lies in right-wing authoritarianism. We’ve heard that some 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump represent the rise of American fascism; that conservatives have allowed authoritarianism to bloom in their midst, creating a grave danger for the republic.
-
-
The Daily Weasel
- By Jonathan Bruce Williams on 07-30-21
By: Ben Shapiro
-
The Big Lie
- Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left
- By: Dinesh D'Souza
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is "the big lie" of the Democratic Party? That conservatives - and President Donald Trump in particular - are fascists. Nazis, even. In a typical comment, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow says the Trump era is reminiscent of "what it was like when Hitler first became chancellor." But in fact, this audacious lie is a complete inversion of the truth. Yes, there is a fascist threat in America - but that threat is from the Left and the Democratic Party.
-
-
I wish Dinesh was the reader.
- By Ken Wells on 06-09-18
By: Dinesh D'Souza
Critic reviews
“Kakutani has written the first great book of the Trump administration. The Death of Truth is a fiery polemic against the president and should go down as essential reading. In nine exquisitely crafted broadsides, the Pulitzer winner calls upon her vast knowledge of literature, philosophy and politics to serve up a damning state of the union.” —Rolling Stone
“The Death of Truth is destined to become the defining treatise of our age. Not only does it brilliantly and incisively diagnose the roots of our decaying social and political order; it also shows why we must rescue the truth before it is buried under a regime of lies. Everyone should read this book.” —David Grann
“This book is essential reading today.” —Walter Isaacson
Related to this topic
-
What Were We Thinking
- A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era
- By: Carlos Lozada
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is an irony of our age that a man who rarely reads has unleashed an onslaught of books about his tenure and his time. Dissections of the white working class. Manifestos of political resistance. Works on identity, gender, and migration. Memoirs on race and protest. Revelations of White House mayhem. Warnings over the future of conservatism, progressivism, and of American democracy itself.
-
-
Useful book
- By Kindle Customer on 11-22-20
By: Carlos Lozada
-
Death of the Liberal Class
- By: Chris Hedges
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chris Hedges examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues that there are five pillars of the liberal establishment and that each of these institutions has sold out the constituents it represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
-
-
Integrity-Can You Tell Me Where It's Gone?
- By Mel on 06-14-12
By: Chris Hedges
-
Liberal Fascism
- The Secret History of the American Left
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Fascists", "Brownshirts", "jackbooted stormtroopers" - such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
-
-
Great book
- By Mark on 05-10-08
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
The Corrosion of Conservatism
- Why I Left the Right
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Max Boot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warning that the Trump presidency presages America’s decline, Max Boot, the political commentator, recounts his extraordinary journey from lifelong Republican to vehement Trump opponent. As nativism, xenophobia, vile racism, and assaults on the rule of law threaten the very fabric of our nation, The Corrosion of Conservatism presents an urgent defense of American democracy.
-
-
Not an intellectual tour de force!
- By Wayne on 07-14-19
By: Max Boot
-
The Age of American Unreason
- By: Susan Jacoby
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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".
-
-
Interesting, but explanation by redescription
- By T. Andrew Poehlman on 07-15-08
By: Susan Jacoby
-
A Lot of People Are Saying
- The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new - conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum reveal how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.
-
-
INSIGHTFUL
- By JaredENH on 04-30-19
By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, and others
-
What Were We Thinking
- A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era
- By: Carlos Lozada
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is an irony of our age that a man who rarely reads has unleashed an onslaught of books about his tenure and his time. Dissections of the white working class. Manifestos of political resistance. Works on identity, gender, and migration. Memoirs on race and protest. Revelations of White House mayhem. Warnings over the future of conservatism, progressivism, and of American democracy itself.
-
-
Useful book
- By Kindle Customer on 11-22-20
By: Carlos Lozada
-
Death of the Liberal Class
- By: Chris Hedges
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chris Hedges examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues that there are five pillars of the liberal establishment and that each of these institutions has sold out the constituents it represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
-
-
Integrity-Can You Tell Me Where It's Gone?
- By Mel on 06-14-12
By: Chris Hedges
-
Liberal Fascism
- The Secret History of the American Left
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Fascists", "Brownshirts", "jackbooted stormtroopers" - such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
-
-
Great book
- By Mark on 05-10-08
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
The Corrosion of Conservatism
- Why I Left the Right
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Max Boot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warning that the Trump presidency presages America’s decline, Max Boot, the political commentator, recounts his extraordinary journey from lifelong Republican to vehement Trump opponent. As nativism, xenophobia, vile racism, and assaults on the rule of law threaten the very fabric of our nation, The Corrosion of Conservatism presents an urgent defense of American democracy.
-
-
Not an intellectual tour de force!
- By Wayne on 07-14-19
By: Max Boot
-
The Age of American Unreason
- By: Susan Jacoby
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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".
-
-
Interesting, but explanation by redescription
- By T. Andrew Poehlman on 07-15-08
By: Susan Jacoby
-
A Lot of People Are Saying
- The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new - conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum reveal how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.
-
-
INSIGHTFUL
- By JaredENH on 04-30-19
By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, and others
-
Troll Nation
- How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself
- By: Amanda Marcotte, David Talbot - foreword
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The election of Donald Trump in 2016, like most of his campaign, came as a shock to many Americans. How could a man so lacking in capacity, so void of any intellectual heft, become the president of the United States? How could a man with no detectable personal qualities outside of resentment and the will to dominate appeal to millions of Americans, enough so that he was able to win the highest office in the land? With this book, journalist Amanda Marcotte will outline how Trump was the inevitable result of American conservatism’s degradation into an ideology of blind resentment.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Steven Finkbeiner on 08-10-18
By: Amanda Marcotte, and others
-
Bad News
- How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy
- By: Batya Ungar-Sargon
- Narrated by: Batya Ungar-Sargon
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today’s newsrooms are propagating radical ideas that were fringe as recently as a decade ago, including “antiracism,” intersectionality, open borders, and critical race theory. How did this come to be? It all has to do with who our news media is written by—and who it is written for. In Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy, Batya Ungar-Sargon reveals how American journalism underwent a status revolution over the twentieth century—from a blue-collar trade to an elite profession.
-
-
Balanced, informative, and insightful
- By J. B. Eibel on 06-06-22
-
Wingnuts
- How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America
- By: John P. Avlon, Tina Brown - foreword
- Narrated by: John P. Avlon, Tina Brown (foreword)
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whats a wingnut? A wingnut is someone on the far-right or far-left wing of the political spectrum professional partisans, unhinged activists, and paranoid conspiracy theorists. Barack Obama campaigned as an antidote to the politics of polarization, promising to transcend the old divides of left and right, black and white, red states and blue. But in the first year of his presidency, he is presiding over an eruption of hate and hyper-partisanship that threatens to mock the promise upon which he was elected.
-
-
Disturbingly disappointing
- By Steven on 02-20-10
By: John P. Avlon, and others
-
The Enemy at Home
- The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11
- By: Dinesh D'Souza
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dinesh D'Souza, the most original and controversial writer on politics and society in the U.S. today, uncovers the links between the spread of American pop culture, leftist ideas, and secular values and the rise of anti-Americanism throughout the world. In The Enemy at Home, D'Souza makes the startling claim that 9/11 and other terrorist acts can be directly traced to the ideas and attitudes perpetrated by America's cultural left.
-
-
FINALLY, Someone gets it!!
- By Ron Egolf on 03-21-07
By: Dinesh D'Souza
-
The Tyranny of Clichés
- How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Goldberg, if the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, the greatest trick liberals ever pulled was convincing themselves they’re not ideological. Today “objective” journalists and academics and “moderate” politicians peddle some of the most radical arguments by hiding them in homespun aphorisms.
-
-
I enjoyed it...and I'm a Democrat!!
- By Private. on 05-14-12
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
Behold, America
- The Entangled History of "America First" and "the American Dream"
- By: Sarah Churchwell
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Behold, America, Sarah Churchwell offers a surprising account of 20th-century Americans' fierce battle for the nation's soul. It follows the stories of two phrases - the "American dream" and "America First" - that once embodied opposing visions for America. Starting as a Republican motto before becoming a hugely influential isolationist slogan during World War I, America First was always closely linked with authoritarianism and white supremacy. The American dream, meanwhile, initially represented a broad vision of democratic and economic equality.
-
-
History we need to know
- By Caroline Pufalt on 12-09-18
By: Sarah Churchwell
-
Dark Star Rising
- Magick and Power in the Age of Trump
- By: Gary Lachman
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Within the concentric circles of Trump's regime lies an unseen culture of occultists, power-seekers, and mind-magicians whose influence is on the rise. In this unparalleled account, historian Gary Lachman examines the influence of occult and esoteric philosophy on the unexpected rise of the alt-right.
-
-
Step Right This Way!
- By Brad on 06-03-18
By: Gary Lachman
-
The Manipulators
- Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Big Tech's War on Conservatives
- By: Peter Hasson
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For better or for worse, Google and social media - “Big Tech”, collectively - have become the new public square. Unfortunately, this public square has a watchful referee standing behind them, ready and waiting to blow the whistle if they veer too far from the preferred narrative. Americans have given these companies enormous power to select the information they read, share and discuss with their neighbors and friends.
-
-
Good Content....Run 1.2x Speed or You'll Go Crazy
- By Peter on 05-17-20
By: Peter Hasson
-
Dog Whistle Politics
- How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class
- By: Ian Haney López
- Narrated by: Eric Yves Garcia
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dog Whistle Politics, Ian Haney Lopez offers a sweeping account of how politicians and plutocrats deploy veiled racial appeals to persuade white voters to support policies that favor the extremely rich yet threaten their own interests. Dog-whistle appeals generate middle-class enthusiasm for political candidates who promise to crack down on crime, curb undocumented immigration, and protect the heartland against Islamic infiltration, but ultimately vote to slash taxes for the rich.
-
-
Narration like verbal water boarding
- By Mark Andreadis on 08-31-15
By: Ian Haney López
-
Reappraisals
- Reflections on the Forgotten 20th Century
- By: Tony Judt
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The accelerating changes of the past generation have been accompanied by a similarly accelerated amnesia. The 20th century has become "history" at an unprecedented rate. The world of 2007 was so utterly unlike that of even 1987, much less any earlier time, that we have lost touch with our immediate past even before we have begun to make sense of it - and the results are proving calamitous.
-
-
Superb. Insightful essays, Performance to match
- By Louis on 05-02-12
By: Tony Judt
-
Makers and Takers
- By: Peter Schweizer
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Makers and Takers, Peter Schweizer broadens his scope to examine the damaging effects of liberal philosophy on ordinary Americans. Drawing on national polls and academic studies, as well as the revealing testimony of liberals themselves, Schweizer shows that liberals are, on the whole, less honest, less generous, lazier, and more materialistic than their conservative counterparts.
-
-
Excellent!
- By Eileen J. O'Connor on 03-08-16
By: Peter Schweizer
-
Cowards
- What Politicians, Radicals, and the Media Refuse to Say
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As we approach the most important presidential election in America’s history, something has been lost among all of the debates, attack ads, and super- PACs - something that Americans used to hold in very high regard: THE TRUTH. The truth can no longer be something we hope for; it must be something we live. When courage prevails, cowards do not - and this book was written to ensure that’s exactly what happens.
-
-
Guess what... Its by Glenn Beck!!
- By Joseph on 07-17-12
By: Glenn Beck
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Death of Truth
- How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World—and What We Can Do
- By: Steven Brill
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did we become a world where facts—shared truths—have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally? How have we allowed the proliferation of alternative facts, hoaxes, even conspiracy theories, to destroy our trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts? Best-selling journalist Steven Brill documents the forces and people, from Silicon Valley to Moscow to Washington, that have created and exploited this world of chaos and division—and offers practical solutions for what we can do about it.
-
-
It’s all about follow the money with programmatic advertising.
- By scott b burton on 11-07-24
By: Steven Brill
-
The Great Wave
- The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the global financial crisis of 2008, people have increasingly lost trust in institutions and elites, while seizing upon new digital tools to sidestep traditional gatekeepers. As a result, powerful new voices—once regarded as radical, unorthodox, or marginal—are disrupting the status quo in politics, business, and culture. Meanwhile, social and economic inequalities are stoking populist rage across the world, toxic partisanship is undermining democratic ideals, and the internet and AI have become high-speed vectors for the spread of misinformation.
-
-
The absolute one sided liberal progressive perspective
- By Mark A Collins on 07-24-24
By: Michiko Kakutani
-
Ex Libris
- 100+ Books to Read and Reread
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Books can connect people across time zones and zip codes, across cultures, national boundaries, and historical eras”, Kakutani writes in her introduction to Ex Libris. Here listeners will discover novels and memoirs by some of the most gifted writers working today; favorite classics worth listening or relistening; and nonfiction works, both old and new, that illuminate our social and political landscape and some of today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to medicine to the consequences of digital innovation.
By: Michiko Kakutani
-
Surviving Autocracy
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within 48 hours of Trump's victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of Trump's norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable.
-
-
Good But . . .
- By A reviewer on 06-02-20
By: Masha Gessen
-
This Is Shakespeare
- By: Emma Smith
- Narrated by: Emma Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no other. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary mastery. A man who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn't tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant.
-
-
Excellent and accessible listen
- By Amanda L. Hughes on 01-05-21
By: Emma Smith
-
The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
- By: Martin Gurri
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Originally published in 2014, this updated edition of The Revolt of the Public includes an extensive analysis of Donald Trump's improbable rise to the presidency and the electoral triumphs of Brexit and concludes with a speculative look forward, pondering whether the current elite class can bring about a reformation of the democratic process and whether new organizing principles, adapted to a digital world, can arise out of the present political turbulence.
-
-
New forces break things, but can't replace them
- By Philo on 06-25-19
By: Martin Gurri
-
The Death of Truth
- How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World—and What We Can Do
- By: Steven Brill
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did we become a world where facts—shared truths—have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally? How have we allowed the proliferation of alternative facts, hoaxes, even conspiracy theories, to destroy our trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts? Best-selling journalist Steven Brill documents the forces and people, from Silicon Valley to Moscow to Washington, that have created and exploited this world of chaos and division—and offers practical solutions for what we can do about it.
-
-
It’s all about follow the money with programmatic advertising.
- By scott b burton on 11-07-24
By: Steven Brill
-
The Great Wave
- The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the global financial crisis of 2008, people have increasingly lost trust in institutions and elites, while seizing upon new digital tools to sidestep traditional gatekeepers. As a result, powerful new voices—once regarded as radical, unorthodox, or marginal—are disrupting the status quo in politics, business, and culture. Meanwhile, social and economic inequalities are stoking populist rage across the world, toxic partisanship is undermining democratic ideals, and the internet and AI have become high-speed vectors for the spread of misinformation.
-
-
The absolute one sided liberal progressive perspective
- By Mark A Collins on 07-24-24
By: Michiko Kakutani
-
Ex Libris
- 100+ Books to Read and Reread
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Books can connect people across time zones and zip codes, across cultures, national boundaries, and historical eras”, Kakutani writes in her introduction to Ex Libris. Here listeners will discover novels and memoirs by some of the most gifted writers working today; favorite classics worth listening or relistening; and nonfiction works, both old and new, that illuminate our social and political landscape and some of today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to medicine to the consequences of digital innovation.
By: Michiko Kakutani
-
Surviving Autocracy
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within 48 hours of Trump's victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of Trump's norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable.
-
-
Good But . . .
- By A reviewer on 06-02-20
By: Masha Gessen
-
This Is Shakespeare
- By: Emma Smith
- Narrated by: Emma Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no other. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary mastery. A man who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn't tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant.
-
-
Excellent and accessible listen
- By Amanda L. Hughes on 01-05-21
By: Emma Smith
-
The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
- By: Martin Gurri
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Originally published in 2014, this updated edition of The Revolt of the Public includes an extensive analysis of Donald Trump's improbable rise to the presidency and the electoral triumphs of Brexit and concludes with a speculative look forward, pondering whether the current elite class can bring about a reformation of the democratic process and whether new organizing principles, adapted to a digital world, can arise out of the present political turbulence.
-
-
New forces break things, but can't replace them
- By Philo on 06-25-19
By: Martin Gurri
What listeners say about The Death of Truth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ronald
- 08-09-18
Useful but weak in spots
On the plus side--this book provides lots of background. Truth has been ailing for decades. Our current President wasn't the first to first decide on a course of action and then pick and choose the "facts" to support it. This trend is echoed in literature where personal experience and reflection now has higher regard than shared experience (which includes science). The author makes the case that Trump has pushed the regard for truth to new lows.
On the minus side--while many points are backed up with examples and citations, there were cases where the documentation was weak. It is not worse than many other analyses of politics, but when the issue is truth, I was expecting all of the arguments to be iron-clad. The other weakness for me was the proliferation of 25-cent words where 10-cent words were adequate. I heard "post-modernist" and "deconstructionist" too many times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- E in Atlanta
- 10-31-18
Another confusion of truth, lies, and viewpoint
Another writer confuses the postmodern viewpoint approach for a difference of truth and lies. Interrogating history through the lens of multiculturalism did not lead us down the path of relative truth. Learn what propaganda truly means before blaming postmodernism for Fox News.
Three stars because there were things that made me think in the work once I got past the other's blind spots listed above. It's a credit to the performer that I made it all the way through this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas St. Catherine
- 06-05-19
What is true?
Not to ground this book on a clear exposition of what the author considers the foundation for determining "what is true & what is not," is a glaring omission & significantly weakens the entire premise of the book. Some references to research, facts, scientific evidence are there, but pretty sure the foundation is fairly flimsy because the analysis of the problem of "the death of truth" is confusing & logically inconsistent in many places.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Boys4me
- 08-16-18
important points to be aware of
the narrator was a bit more dramatic than I would have preferred for the reading of an essay. But I got over it.
Good discussion of just how serious it is that Trump and his allies are destroying the concept of objective truth. I liked the discussion of the roots of this in postmodernism, although the author also distinguishes early postmodernism from the misuse of its frameworks by the politicians who use relativism to manipulate the population for their own ends.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sams95
- 03-27-23
Scary Must Read/Listen
I find this writing a well researched statement of facts that I’ve witnessed. Thing only good thing about Trump is that he inspired me to research, learn history, and hone my critical things/reading/listening skills.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Bill
- 07-07-20
scary honesty
wonderful book written with a lot of spot on Research and clarity about how truth has been replaced with hype
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matthew Kaminski
- 09-13-18
Very good but depressing and short.
very good read but the topic of how we are sliding into an authoritarian regime is depressing. it kinda reads like a college essay. I wish it would have addressed more about... what can be done? what steps would have stopped the historical fascists cited?
still a good and quick read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian Price
- 07-27-18
Prescient Account of the Mechanics of Tyranny
The author organizes and presents the recent history of disinformation practiced by fascists and other autocracies. She shows clearly how Trump and his abettors are a development from that tradition, and makes clear why the nation has diverged into bitterly opposed camps.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MR
- 08-17-18
So truthful
I feel this book is a great chronicle of how miss information has unfortunately infected our political system. To bad the people who really need to read this won’t. Her examples are very easy to verify and no one can accuse Ms Kautani of fabrication.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Toz
- 03-14-22
Inspiring book
I liked the author’s examples of how truth has been in decline, citing specific failures. Would liked to have had a chapter about how to know what the truth is or what can be done so get us there since so many people say they believe the last presidential election has been stolen, though demonstrably false.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!