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Title details for The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas - Available

The Persuaders

Winning Hearts and Minds in a Divided Age

by Anand Giridharadas
Anand Giridharadas
Audiobook
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1 of 1 copy available

Brought to you by Penguin.

A riveting insider account of how activists, politicians, educators and citizens are working to change minds, bridge divisions and save democracy
The lifeblood of any free society is persuasion: changing other people's minds to enable real change. But America is suffering a crisis of faith in persuasion that is putting its democracy and the planet itself at risk. People increasingly write each other off instead of seeking to win each other over. Debates are framed in moralistic terms, with enemies battling the righteous. Movements for justice build barriers to entry, instead of on-ramps. Political parties focus on mobilizing the faithful rather than wooing the sceptical. And leaders who seek to forge coalition are labelled sell-outs.
In The Persuaders best-selling author Anand Giridharadas takes us inside these movements and battles, seeking out the dissenters who continue to champion persuasion in an age of polarization. We meet a co-founder of Black Lives Matter; a leader of the feminist resistance to Trumpism; white parents at a seminar on raising adopted children of colour; Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; a team of door knockers with an uncanny formula for changing minds on immigration; and an ex-cult member turned QAnon deprogrammer.
As they grapple with how to "call out" threats and injustices while "calling in" those who don't agree with them but just might one day, they point a way to healing, and changing, a broken society.
© Anand Giridharadas 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 18, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780141999326
      • File size: 355974 KB
      • Duration: 12:21:36

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 22, 2022
      Leftists’ efforts to persuade opponents instead of writing them off are probed in this searching study of progressive discourse. Journalist Giridharadas (Winner Take All) interviews progressive leaders who seek to maintain their principles while appealing to the unconverted without denouncing them as bigots or alienating them with politically correct dogma. Profile subjects include Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, reproductive justice crusader Loretta Ross, and Black Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza, who deplore the left’s habit of ostracizing those who misunderstand details of progressive orthodoxy and extol outreach to moderates. Giridharadas also talks to anti-racism trainers in Ohio; a cognitive scientist who catalogues trickery in right-wing disinformation; and Arizona “deep canvassers” who suss out and influence attitudes toward migrants during 30-minute porch conversations. It’s illuminating to watch activists grapple honestly with the left’s internal divisions and rhetorical shortcomings, but the focus is on subtler manipulations, not open-minded dialogue with opponents. (“Make them think of a pain point in their life—that expensive diabetes treatment—and tell them how giving the federal government supervision of elections and cracking down on gerrymandering and allowing mail-in-voting would empower them to solve their problems,” suggests one messaging consultant.) Still, for those committed to the progressive agenda, this is an incisive guide to the art of persuasion.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The author narrates his work in a serious tone and journalistic style. His delivery comes across as practiced. He tells stories of how committed activists use persuasion in organizing to attract supporters. He introduces the Internet Research Agency--the Russian troll farm that won both liberal and conservative Americans' hearts and minds online. The audiobook could just as well have been called "The Progressive Persuaders" since there are revealing sections on Bernie Sanders and his calculated always-on-message approach as compared to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an accomplished social-media maven, and her methods. Listeners who persevere are rewarded with exceptional sections on how QAnon evolved and a hopeful ending that focuses on "deep canvasing"--a process that encourages like- mindedness as a basis for political action. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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