The Great Experiment Audiobook By Yascha Mounk cover art

The Great Experiment

Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure

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The Great Experiment

By: Yascha Mounk
Narrated by: JD Jackson
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About this listen

One of Barack Obama's Recommended Reads for Summer

“[A] brave and necessary book . . . Anyone interested in the future of liberal democracy, in the US or anywhere else, should read this book.” —Anne Applebaum


“A convincing, humane, and hopeful guide to the present and future by one of our foremost democratic thinkers.” —George Packer

“A rare thing: [an] academic treatise . . . that may actually have influence in the arena of practical politics. . . . Passionate and personal.” —Joe Klein, New York Times Book Review

From one of our sharpest political thinkers, a brilliant big-picture vision of how to bridge the bitter divides within diverse democracies

Never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal, treating different ethnic or religious groups fairly. And yet achieving that goal is now central to the democratic project. It is, Yascha Mounk argues, the greatest experiment of our time. Drawing on history, social psychology, and comparative politics, Mounk explains why we need to create a world in which our ascriptive identities come to matter less—not because we ignore global injustices, but because we have succeeded in addressing them.

The Great Experiment is that rare book that offers both a profound understanding of an urgent problem and genuine hope for our human capacity to solve it. As Mounk contends, it is up to us and the institutions we build whether we come to see each other as strangers or compatriots. Giving up on the prospect of diverse democracies is simply not an option—and that is why we must strive to realize a more ambitious vision for the future of our societies.

©2022 Yascha Mounk (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Democracy Future Studies Racism & Discrimination

Critic reviews

“A rare thing: [an] academic treatise . . . that may actually have influence in the arena of practical politics. . . . Passionate and personal.”—Joe Klein, New York Times Book Review

“Mounk’s calm mix of storytelling, political theory and social psychology exegesis, peppered with some charming insights, has a comforting seriousness.”Washington Post

“The fundamental argument of The Great Experiment is correct both morally and practically. Building diverse democracies is indeed hard. But, given the current composition of our societies, no alternative exists . . . A coherent and well-written call to arms.”—Martin Wolf, The Financial Times

What listeners say about The Great Experiment

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Great overview of a meta phenomenon

An honest and thorough accounting of the distinctly modern phenomena of diverse and representative democracy’s.

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Excellent- well constructed and thought provoking. Balanced

Excellent well balanced presentation of the challenges faced by democracies. Readers on both sides of the political spectrum should find great insights.

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Read this and I promise you will feel better!

An in depth look at the theory behind diverse democracies written in an easy to understand style with lots of examples and well earned optimism

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Intellectually honest and optimistic

This is a well-researched and intellectually honest book that addresses America’s underlying divisions and how it can overcome them. It is unsparingly honest, yet balanced and upbeat, reminding readers of the strengths and successes of the American experiment so far. It is by building upon these - rather than forming new sub-group divisions - that this great experiment can endure.

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Balanced analysis of the perils facing our democracy and the hope to make it succeed

Have you wondered why right wing populism gained traction in America? This book provides valuable insight into why some Americans feel worried. The author gives concrete tips on what we can do to make this great experiment continue to succeed.

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Unbiased

I’ve read quite a few books on democracy the last few years for obvious reasons. This one was very good. The author managed to hit on issues from both the right and the left as well as possible solutions for all democratic backsliding.

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Ehhh…

This book is ok, but falls into both sideism. The author even addresses the fallacy in the last chapter, yet does not discuss the important aspect of proportionality. Yes, criticize and point to the Left’s issues. They are there.

However, what the author does is take the huge camel size issues on the Right, and compare it too gnat sized complaints on the Left. There are issues that both sides have major faults, fallacies, and horrible ideas about, but this subject is not one of them. It feels