Three Books You Have to Read to Understand Trumpism
It’s all about Making Life Make Sense Again
Ever since 2016 saw the triumph of Brexit in the UK and Donald Trump in the United States, there’s been no shortage of pundits trying to explain “how we got here.” There’s been a lot of attention paid to globalization, trade, immigration, and the culture wars. And you can find thoughtful commentary all along the political spectrum.
However many of the issues identified in these narratives strike me as, at best, necessary but not sufficient to explain the current political moment. So in this article, I want to share with you three books that I think will help you better understand the psychology of populism and why it tends to crop up periodically in industrialized societies.
Let’s get into it.
1. Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam
When Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone first appeared in 2000, it became an instant classic in the field of sociology. Drawing on copious amounts of data, Putnam pointed out two fascinating trends in American public life during the twentieth century.
First, from the end of the First World War until sometime in the mid-fifties, civic engagement in America skyrocketed. Membership in all kinds of organizations —…
