Why We’’re Polarized

　　你以為的「政治」不是真的「政治」─深入剖析，顛覆你的認知！

　　我們都以為現行美國政治體系已經失控，其實這正是有心人操作的結果──這件事本身，比政治體系直接崩壞更令人心驚。那麼，我們是如何被這樣的體系分化，而又是如何讓這份對立越演越烈的呢？而這又將帶來什麼樣的惡果？

　　「手握投票權的民眾、記者乃至總統，全民皆生活在與美國政治體系之下，其中不乏理性的人在各方評估後，做出理性的決定，」政治分析家以斯拉•克萊因寫道，「沒有我們，這個體系將無法運行，也是因為我們，導致這個體系運作地荒腔走板。」

　　如今美國走向分化與失衡，背後存在著什麼樣結構性與心理層面的問題？本書不是只丟些爭議性的問題，或者在那邊唉聲嘆氣，而是提出清楚的架構與脈絡，讓我們了解諸如川普如何從民主黨轉而投身共和黨，最終成為影響政壇走向的政治明星等等現象，背後潛藏的因素。

　　導致美國分化的首要因素，就是身分認同。影響每位美國公民的政治體系在某種程度上，可以說就是身分認同政治。在過去五十年來，美國人會因自己的種族、信仰、地理位置、意識型態及文化認同選擇黨派立場，這反而造成政治上的鬥爭，讓國家難以團結。

　　透過本書，讀者可以看到二十世紀的美國政治分化是如何圍繞著個人認同這一核心，而這樣的分化又是如何影響我們理解他人、理解世界。(文/博客來編譯)

好評推薦

　　榮登《紐約時報》及《華爾街日報》暢銷排行榜 各方佳評如潮
　　「Why We're Polarized所述與現在所發生的事簡直不謀而合，現在發行本書在適合不過了！」──《華盛頓郵報》專欄
　　「這可以說是年度最佳政治類書籍…充滿張力又獨具遠見」──CNN人氣節目主持人兼製作人法里德•扎卡利亞
　　「研究透徹且筆法高超…」──哈佛大學政治系博士法蘭西斯•福山

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022

One of Bill Gates’s ＂5 books to read this summer,＂ this New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this ＂superbly researched＂ (The Washington Post) and timely book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us--and how we are polarizing it--with disastrous results.

＂The American political system--which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president--is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face,＂ writes political analyst Ezra Klein. ＂We are a collection of functional parts whose efforts combine into a dysfunctional whole.＂

＂A thoughtful, clear and persuasive analysis＂ (The New York Times Book Review), Why We’re Polarized 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. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together.

Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the 20th century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis.

＂Well worth reading＂ (New York magazine), this is an ＂eye-opening＂ (O, The Oprah Magazine) book that will change how you look at politics--and perhaps at yourself.

Ezra Klein is a columnist at TheNew York Times, where he hosts The Ezra Klein Show. Previously, he was the cofounder, editor in chief, and then editor at large at Vox; a columnist and editor at the Washington Post; a political analyst at MSNBC; and a contributor to Bloomberg.