What Were We Thinking

The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book critic uses the books of the Trump era to argue that our response to this presidency reflects the same failures of imagination that made it possible. As a book critic for The Washington Post, Carlos Lozada has read some 150 volumes claiming to diagnose why Trump was elected and what his presidency reveals about our nation. Many of these, he’s found, are more defensive than incisive, more righteous than right. In What Were We Thinking, Lozada uses these books to tell the story of how we understand ourselves in the Trump era, using as his main characters the political ideas and debates at play in America today. He dissects works on the white working class like Hillbilly Elegy; manifestos from the anti-Trump resistance like On Tyranny and No Is Not Enough; books on race, gender, and identity like How to Be an Antiracist and Good and Mad; polemics on the future of the conservative movement like The Corrosion of Conservatism; and of course plenty of books about Trump himself. Lozada’s argument is provocative: that many of these books—whether written by liberals or conservatives, activists or academics, Trump’s true believers or his harshest critics—are vulnerable to the same blind spots, resentments, and failures that gave us his presidency. But Lozada also highlights the books that succeed in illuminating how America is changing in the 21st century. What Were We Thinking is an intellectual history of the Trump era in real time, helping us transcend the battles of the moment and see ourselves for who we really are.

The question of how to improve organizational effectiveness through better people management is always top of mind. This book challenges incorrect and oversimplified assumptions and much conventional management wisdom - delivering business commentary that helps business leaders make smarter decisions.

Third-grader Braden loves to be the center of attention. His comic genius, as he sees it, causes his friends to look at him in awe. But some poor decisions, like ill-timed jokes, forces the adults in Braden's life to teach him about impulse control.

Some corporations spend millions of dollars on so-called "crisis communication plans." Others offer lip service, avoiding the subject like the plague. They simply hope for the best, praying that they never face a crisis. Either way, as Steve Adubato says, "Wishful thinking is no substitute for a strategic plan." Nationally recognized communication coach and four-time Emmy Awardûwinning broadcaster Steve Adubato has been teaching, writing, and thinking about comm¡unication, leadership, and crisis communication for nearly two decades. In What Were They Thinking? Adubato examines twenty-two controversial and complex public relations and media mishaps, many of which were played out in public. Among cases and people discussed are: The Johnson & Johnson Tylenol scare: Perhaps the best crisis management ever Don Imus: Sometimes saying "sorry" is too little too late Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Authority does not put you above questioning Bill O'Reilly: Know when to stop defending yourself and save face Former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman: Proof that your written words can come back to haunt you Hurricane Katrina: A natural disaster that led to a larger governmental disaster The Catholic Church's pedophilia scandal: Denial won't get rid of the skeletons in your closet Arranged in short chapters detailing each case individually, the book provides a brief history of the topics and answers the questions: Who got it right? Who got it wrong? What can the rest of us learn from them?

TV is never short of bad ideas, as demonstrated in a guide to one hundred of television's most memorable blunders and bloopers, arranged in a count-down format and including information on each incident that seeks to answer the question of "Why did this happen?" Original.

In this consideration of religious and scientific beliefs, Keith Simpson offers a provocative challenge to Darwinian thinking through conversations with a close friend. An important tool for parenting and college preparation. Having taught on all levels of academia, I am convinced that it takes great wisdom to take complex and sophisticated issues and present them in a way that the non-expert can comprehend and evaluate. Simpson has done a masterful job of synthesizing, exposing, and presentingin an understandable and engaging way for our evaluationthe embedded philosophies of Darwinism that intertwine our cultural thinking. David P. Ferreira, Ph.D. Keith Simpson provides an enjoyable and highly personal account of how respectful and well-informed interactions with atheists can change hearts and minds for the better. Casey Luskin, Discovery Institute

Not all of them set out to change the world, but some of them managed to do just that. Not even legendary announcer Ernie Harwell knew the intrigue that led to his brutal and disastrous dismissal--the full story is presented here for the first time. How did the coolest-of-cool novelist Elmore "Dutch" Leonard find his voice and create those just-off-center bad guys and capture that street-smart dialogue? Haney takes readers inside the minds of these and more than a dozen other notable Michigan figures, people like Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the zealot who elevated the issue of assisted suicide. And Academy Award-winning Sue Marx, automotive genius Ed Cole, the three visionary men who built the Palace and the championship Pistons, and many more men and women who made a difference. Haney reveals the motivations and the passions of people--some prominent, some scarcely known--who made decisions and took actions that had impacts that reverberated far beyond the borders of the state.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's seminal studies in behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, and happiness studies have influenced numerous other authors, including Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman at last offers his own, first book for the general public. It is a lucid and enlightening summary of his life's work. It will change the way you think about thinking. Two systems drive the way we think and make choices, Kahneman explains: System One is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System Two is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Examining how both systems function within the mind, Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities as well as the biases of fast thinking and the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and our choices. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, he shows where we can trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking, contrasting the two-system view of the mind with the standard model of the rational economic agent. Kahneman's singularly influential work has transformed cognitive psychology and launched the new fields of behavioral economics and happiness studies. In this path-breaking book, Kahneman shows how the mind works, and offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and personal lives--and how we can guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.