Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide, Skills and Strategies for Conversations That Work

by Tania Israel

As featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, TED Talks, and the Orange County Register, this practical, politically neutral book offers concrete skills for holding meaningful conversations that cut across today's intense political divide, showing listeners how to connect to the people in their lives.

Political polarization is at an all-time high, and the consequences for our personal relationships are significant. Many people have friends and family members with whom they feel they can no longer communicate because of their extreme political views. In this book, psychologist Tania Israel presents her program for helping people have meaningful, constructive conversations with those they disagree with politically.

Chapters show listeners how to develop and use the scientifically proven skills that are the foundation of constructive conversation, including strategies for effective listening, managing emotions, and understanding someone else's perspective, as well as finding common ground, avoiding self-righteousness, and telling your own story. Throughout, conversation prompts, practical exercises, case examples, and self-quizzes help listeners visualize and practice starting, sustaining, and ending challenging conversations.

Audible Audio

Published June 20, 2023

About the author

Tania Israel is a Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and award-winning author of Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide, Skills and Strategies for Conversations That Work (APA, 2020). She has shared her expertise with the TODAY show, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, and dozens of other media outlets. Her strengths as a scholar and storyteller are evident in her TEDx talks: How to Win a Political Argument, What Halibut Fajitas Taught Me About Bridging the Political Divide, and Bisexuality and Beyond. Tania’s presentations on a wide range of topics have been received enthusiastically by campuses, conferences, corporations, elected officials, and faith communities. She has received honors from Congress, the California State Legislature, and the American Psychological Association. To learn more, visit https://taniaisrael.com/ or connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or TIkTok (@drtaniaisrael).