“The Great Derangement” is a book by Matt Taibbi that explores the causes and effects of America’s political polarization and dysfunction. Taibbi argues that both the left and right have become so extreme and tribal in their views that they can no longer engage in meaningful debate or compromise. He examines the role that social media, cable news, and money in politics have played in exacerbating these divisions. Taibbi also critiques the media and political establishment’s failure to address the real issues facing Americans, such as income inequality and climate change. Ultimately, he suggests that the only way to fix the current state of American politics is for citizens to demand more from their leaders and to take action themselves.
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The Great Derangement
- A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire
- Narrated by: David Slavin
Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi begins his depiction of the American nature of George Bush in the post-9/11 era and ends with vomiting demons in a Texas Protestant church, riding the streets of Baghdad in a caravan. American vehicles to nowhere, search for ghost jet fighters in Congress, and fall into the rabbit hole of the 9/11 Truth Movement. Matt has discovered during his travels around the country that the resilient red/green state narrative in American politics has become irrelevant. A large and growing segment of the US population has been turned off – or radicalized – by electoral complications, a media backbone, and increasingly blatant lies from our leaders (“they hate us for our freedom”) that they have given up on politics. total. They joined what he called the “Great Derangement”.
Taibbi tells the story of this new American madness by immersing himself in four defining subcultures of America: The Army, where he finds himself mired in the grotesque black comedy about the occupation of America in Iraq; The system, where he follows the path of legislating with money in Congress; The Resistance, where he serves as the main public villain and undercover member of the rabid 9/11 Truth Movement; and The Church, where he infiltrates a politically influential apocalyptic super-minister in Texas and enters the lives of its desperate parishioners.
These four intertwined adventures together paint a portrait of a nation dangerously detached from reality and desperately searching for answers in all the wrong places.
Funny, clever, and a little heartbreaking, The Great Derangement is a bright, sobering, and lucid portrait of late Bush-era America.
I love it. I’m not sure how a previous reviewer who loved Taibbi could complain about what he THOUGHT he was lacking. The book was great. Taibbi has a sharp wit and can deliver a depth and range of speech that can leave you feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck after some of his more colloquial language. I will definitely listen to this book more than once.
