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The Great Experiment

How to Make Diverse Democracies Work

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The Great Experiment

By: Yascha Mounk
Narrated by: JD Jackson
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Bloomsbury presents The Great Experiment by Yascha Mounk, read by JD Jackson.

* SELECTED FOR BARACK OBAMA'S SUMMER READING LIST 2022 *

'Anyone interested in the future of liberal democracy should read this book'
ANNE APPLEBAUM

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One of our most important political thinkers looks to the greatest challenge of our time: how to live together equally and peacefully in diverse democracies.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the fate of democracy in multi-ethnic societies. At the end of the Second World War, fewer than one in twenty-five people living in the UK were born abroad; now it is one in seven. The history of humankind is a story of us versus them, and the project of diverse democracies is a relatively new one – it is, in other words, a great experiment.

How do identity groups with different ideologies and beliefs live together? Is it possible to embark on a democracy with shared values if our values are at odds?

Yascha Mounk argues that group identity is both deeply rooted and malleable. No community is beyond conciliation: groups are moving towards cooperation across the world. The Great Experiment offers a profound understanding of the problem behind all our other problems, and genuine hope for our capacity to solve it.©2022 Yascha Mounk (P)2022 Penguin Random House LLC Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Discrimination Thought-Provoking Socialism Capitalism
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Critic reviews

Don’t ridicule or vilify: engage and persuade – is one of the many mantras of Yascha Mounk’s extremely wide-ranging, highly readable, and fascinating study of how slowly, and often falteringly, we can slowly learn better to live alongside and with each other in our ever more diverse societies. An optimistic realistic vision of the future (Danny Dorling)
Can diverse democracies flourish? The Great Experiment is a bold and necessary counter-argument to nativists, populists and pessimists (Helen Lewis, author of DIFFICULT WOMEN)
The Great Experiment confronts the intense challenges faced today by diverse societies in creating norms and institutions that allow their citizens to live peacefully with one another. It moves from insightful analysis of our current crisis to practical suggestions on how to mitigate conflicts over race and identity—a blueprint for a more optimistic future. (Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Director of Stanford's Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy and author of THE END OF HISTORY and THE LAST MAN)
A convincing, humane, and hopeful guide to the present and future by one of our foremost democratic thinkers (George Packer, author of THE UNWINDING and LAST BEST HOPE)
In The Great Experiment, Yascha Mounk shows us our history, our psychology, our self-inflicted wounds, and our best hope for creating stable democracies that benefit from diversity. This magnificent book increases our odds of success (Jonathan Haidt, author of THE RIGHTEOUS MIND and professor at NYU-Stern School of Business)
In this brave and necessary book, Yascha Mounk honestly confronts the challenges to democracy posed by diverse, multiethnic societies, while at the same time refusing to give in to fashionable pessimism. He argues that we can and should find ways to build common ground, using good-faith patriotism to build consensus. Anyone interested in the future of liberal democracy, in the US or anywhere else, should read this book. (Anne Applebaum, staff writer for The Atlantic and Senior Fellow, SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University)
All stars
Most relevant
A reasonable piece of well-researched commentary that lays bare the truths of the discontentment which has characterised the socio-political arena of the past dozen years or so. Though its author is clearly just left off centre politically, he pulls no punches on his own allies. Ultimately, its call is for us readers to sort our own political priorities out, harness our abilities to think critically about the issues of the day & to engage with each other as partners on a common endeavour. I feel glad to have been liberated from the left-right debate of 2020s politics. The narrator is also brilliantly chosen - a warm but steady hand Jackson evokes - like everyone's favourite team captain. While a bit of point organisation was lacking (causing parts of the text to sound like a broken record), it should not detract from a highly digestible & essential listening experience.

Let's Get to It!

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A clear exposition to the difficulties facing our societies and how to overcome these problems. I appreciated the language and construction of the arguments. Indispensable for anyone who believes in the future of humanity.

A rare treasure

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This is a book with little insight if any. The only positive aspect is that the author is not too biased. Skip it and go the next title in your list.

As educated as a pub conversation

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