With the news that the Taliban have taken control of Kabul, it’s tempting to despair over our divided world. Conflict is raging at such grand scales and long distances that we feel powerless to make things better. What are we supposed to do?
Using the seven excellent books below, maybe we can start by resolving the bitter tensions in our personal relationships, in our local communities, and in our online spaces. These efforts may not seem like much at first, but they will help us find a sense of peace—and bring the world one step closer to harmony.
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High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out
By Amanda Ripley
When we are baffled by the insanity of the “other side”—in our politics, at work, or at home—it’s because we aren’t seeing how the conflict itself has taken over. In this timely read, award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley investigates how good people get captured by “high conflict”—and how they break free.
The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization
By Peter T. Coleman
Blending personal accounts with cutting-edge research, social psychologist Peter T. Coleman explores how conflict resolution and complexity science provide guidance for dealing with seemingly intractable political differences.
Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing
By Chris Bail
Providing data-driven recommendations for strengthening our social media connections, Breaking the Social Media Prism shows how to combat online polarization without deleting our accounts.
The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health—and How We Must Adapt
By Sinan Aral
A landmark insider’s tour of how social media affects our decision-making and shapes our world in ways both useful and dangerous, with critical insights into the social media trends of the 2020 election and beyond. View on Amazon
Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk
By Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke
Using the analytic tools of psychology and moral philosophy, Tosi and Warmke explain what drives us to grandstand online, and what we stand to lose by taking it too far. Most importantly, they show how, by controlling the impulse to grandstand, we can re-build a public square worth participating in.
Why We’re Polarized
By Ezra Klein
This bestseller shows us that America’s political system isn’t broken. The truth is scarier: It’s working exactly as designed. In this timely and deeply researched book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results. View on Amazon
This Is Not Normal: The Politics of Everyday Expectations
By Cass Sunstein
Exploring Nazism, #MeToo, the work of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, constitutional amendments, pandemics, and the influence of Ayn Rand, Sunstein reveals how norms change, and ultimately determine the shape of society and government around the world.
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