The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy

by Anand Giridharadas

An insider account of activists, politicians, educators, and everyday citizens working to change minds, bridge divisions, and save democracy

The lifeblood of any free society is persuasion: changing other people's minds to enable real change. But America is suffering a crisis of faith in persuasion that is putting its democracy and the planet itself at risk. Americans increasingly write each other off instead of seeking to win each other over. Debates are framed in moralistic terms, with enemies battling the righteous. Movements for justice build barriers to entry, instead of on-ramps. Political parties focus on mobilizing the faithful rather than wooing the skeptical. And leaders who seek to forge coalition are labeled sellouts.

In Persuasion Anand Giridharadas takes us inside these movements and battles, seeking out the dissenters who continue to champion persuasion in an age of polarization. We meet a co-founder of Black Lives Matter; a leader of the feminist resistance to Trumpism; white parents at a seminar on raising adopted children of color; Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; a team of door knockers with an uncanny formula for changing minds on immigration; an ex-cult member turned QAnon deprogrammer; and, hovering menacingly offstage, Russian operatives clandestinely stoking Americans' fatalism about each other. As the book's subjects grapple with how to "call out" threats and injustices while "calling in" those who don't agree with them but just might one day, they point a way to healing, and changing, a broken country.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Audiobook, Activism, Psychology, Social Justice

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 2022

About the author

Anand Giridharadas is the author of the THE PERSUADERS (2022), the international bestseller WINNERS TAKE ALL (2018), THE TRUE AMERICAN (2014), and INDIA CALLING (2011). A former foreign correspondent and columnist for The New York Times for more than a decade, he has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Time, and is the publisher of the newsletter The.Ink. He is an on-air political analyst for MSNBC. He has received the Radcliffe Fellowship, the Porchlight Business Book of the Year Award, Harvard University’s Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanism in Culture, and the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Priya Parker, and their two children.

Reviews

[Carmel Hanes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if this book will change many minds, mostly because those who could, and perhaps should, read it probably won't. What I found most interesting in this audible listen was the redefining of "moderate" in terms of politics. Rather than representing those who fall towards the middle on measured dimensions rather than at the extremes, the author posits that moderates are those who tend to be more persuadable, in that they are less entrenched in hard core ideology and more inclined to see as "good point" concepts that fall on both sides of the divide. As such, they can be more readily swayed by messaging. They "toggle" between questions and answers, looking for clues as to what the world around them thinks so they can align themselves with the best "good point". Being inundated with messaging can sway these middle-of-the-roaders. Since I consider myself a moderate in many respects, I had to reflect on this concept.

Much of the book talked about how to use that persuasion to move the needle on political issues and people within this group, as those more entrenched in ideology on both sides are less susceptible to persuasion of any kind. Although, that said, if one is to move the needle with the more entrenched, it requires personal experience and close relationship to try to do so. Giridharadas states that when a broad issue is brought down to a personalized level, people often land on a different square of the debate and see exceptions to their views.

When messaging is used to influence the more entrenched ideology or to bring others into that camp, it often resorts to the following, all of which get in the way of true dialogue and issue-based focus and debate:
--Fake experts
--logical fallacies
--impossible expectations
--conspiracy theories
--cherry picking

An interesting listen as I watch this play out in our world. It begins to feel like a game of pick-up-sticks. Where do we begin to dismantle this dysfunctional morass? What I think this book offers more than anything is a way to recognize one is being manipulated, and how to guard against it. And maybe, just maybe, how to tackle discussions with our friends and relatives who think so differently from us.

[Sahitya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5 but I’m rounding up.

This was an interesting book. I listened to the audiobook and it was well narrated and I finished it in just a couple of days. I really enjoyed the chapters on deep canvassing, cult deprogramming and the opening chapters about the Women’s March and the Black Lives Matters movement. I can’t deny that the message of the book is important - that we shouldn’t write off people who don’t share the same worldview as us and the art of persuasion is the need of the day, but it is not an easy thing to do in today’s social media world where piling on people is everyone’s favorite pastime, whether they deserve it or not. I can see how persuasion can also feel like an exhausting project when many people are living in their own world of misinformation and conspiracy theories and not ready to engage. So all I can say is that hats off to the organizers who are still doing it and who believe they will change people’s minds.

The book itself felt like a disjointed collection of profiles of people who are doing this work and while I liked getting to know them, I think the writing felt a bit directionless and then just ended. I would have either preferred a narrower focus with not so much page time dedicated to Bernie and AOC, or the book could have gone broader about the issue and discuss more about the possibility and feasibility of persuasion. I think the book stuck somewhere in the middle and didn’t feel totally satisfactory. But it still left me thinking about my own attitude towards those who don’t share my views and how I can change my own way of dealing with them in the future.

[Graeme Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodness, this was a powerful but frustrating book. There are some really great prescient insights here, but unfortunately, this book meanders all over the place before it finally reveals those gems. I read Giridharadas’s “Winners Take All” and that was an absolutely outstanding read. He is such a smart man with so many great insights.

I feel as though this book needed a wider scope, with more insights from different vantage points. The book features quite long sections that focus on just a few individual players. I wanted to hear from more voices. I wanted to hear from a wide swath of front-liners and learn from their insights. I was looking for more synthesis and insight, less long-form transcription of a few individuals.

I leave this book both enlightened and frustrated. Giridharadas is one crazy smart, innovative and insightful man. This book just felt half done to me.

[Drea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of the author, Anand Giridharadas and was thrilled to receive an advanced copy from Knopf Doubleday. This book is a great source of inspiration and education as the author describes several “persuaders” who not only seek to change the country and world but also work really hard to make changes within those who think differently than they do. This book is especially important now as more often than not there seems to be “teams” who refuse to listen to one another. Learned a lot about a couple of people I thought I knew everything about and was introduced to several persuaders I hadn’t known. An EXCELLENT choice for a book club discussion group. So much to explore.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously let down by this book. Wasn't so much an analysis/narrative as pages and pages of dialogue lifted verbatim from interviews. Frequently unclear what the point of a chapter was. 100 wandering pages in the middle about Bernie Sanders and AOC and I'm still not sure why. Many people's ideas and thoughts were featured, but it never got to the outcome. Overall, the book feels like an incomplete thought/like Giridharadas started writing it but then forgot to stick around long enough with his subjects to see how it all turned out.

Very disappointed - I'd been looking forward to this being published for months, and it's such an important topic.

[Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many readers of Mr Giridharadras's previous book, 'Winners Take All', I was excited to read his new book, unfortunately I was underwhelmed and disappointed by it. The structure was too loose and the subject itself was so ill-defined and broad that the book often read like one long journal of people the author met, who inspired him and had demonstrated positive communication habits vs a coherent, scholarly study. Certainly there were... valuable observations and inspiring stories, but not a lot of new information or best practices revealed for me.

Much of the content described ideas that seemed fairly basic, with "listen vs convince" being central words of wisdom. Unfortunately I suppose there are clearly not enough folks who share or practice this philosophy so perhaps a basic book like this is necessary. Therefore there are certainly folks who will be motivated and informed by this book - I'm just not one of them.

[Penny Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to be a huge fan of Anand's and even subscribed to his substack.
But he is completely blind to the fact that he's part of what's threatening democracy in our country.
Calling people who disagree with you "fascists" and a "threat to democracy" does not persuade them to open their hearts and minds to you.
But Anand's main objective is to get clicks and sell books, not to help our country heal from economic inequality and hateful division.
These oligarchs he criticizes are his friends, and they will always be his friends because status is everything to this guy. Jack Dorsey is a buddy of his.
I attended one live meeting of his substack group and it was all a love fest of adoring fans going on & on about how great Anand is. It was gross.
The topic was climate change,and when I brought up the fact that many churches are involved in fighting sex trafficking, and that highlighing this connection might get more churches involved in fighting climate change, he shut me down and moved on to the next gushing fan.
If you want to read a genuine book about how to persuade people, read Monica Guzman's "I Never Thought of It That Way". That book is a sincere attempt to open hearts and minds.
Anand's book is just another obnoxious appeal to the Twitterati.
He is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[Jennifer Stoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, the entire Bernie section should have been yeeted because it didn't work in this narrative. Like, essentially, the point was not made that Bernie kind of failed, even with right ideas, and these various organizers, including AOC, took all these ideas that are popular and made them more popular and fought against right-wing frames. It was too light on why Bernie failed or if Giridharadas is claiming Bernie didn't fail, it didn't make that clear. It's not like progressive ideas all came from Bernie and so many of these organizers came out of contexts that have nothing to do with him.

I came around to the addition of someone like Linda Sarsour, though I think it 100% elided why she's extremely problematic in the world of progressive organizing and while I also have that urge not to get into "everything is Israel-Palestine and loud accusations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia", Sarsour's organizing exists in the context of increasing anti-Semitism hitting the outer boroughs of NYC and if that's not her milieu, what is?

This book is overall just tricky to rate and discuss because I don't think it persuaded very well because it was trying to be too many things. Is it trying to be a list of ways progressives need to sell their agenda? Is it a history of activism during the Trump years and ways people have succeeded? Is it once again trying to give Bernie kudos he doesn't deserve? It's not clear and I think that at its best, the book does a good job of explaining things like deep canvassing, why you can't beat misinformation with facts, and so on, but it doesn't gel as a project.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 5 out of 5]

My biggest takeaway is that we need to stop letting Republicans set the conversation, as they frequently pick topics to distract and enrage us. We need to stop repeating the opposition's talking points even to oppose them. As citizens, we need to define the conversation ourselves and talk about stopping climate change, universal health care, and implementing ambitious gun control (especially as gun homicide is now the number one cause of death of children in the US) as even the Democrats aren't doing enough on these issues in part because we're not making it clear that political survival depends on addressing those issues (as liberals are largely distracted by addressing Republican attacks instead).

[Brian Stout · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. 4 because he's sharing an important message that I want people to hear; 3 because I fear that message gets lost in the stories. I bought the book after listening to his 2-part interview with Brene Brown, which I thought was outstanding.

Unfortunately, the two pieces I was most excited about from his interview didn't show up in the book... perhaps insights that arrived in the lag between writing and publishing (1) we are asking people to go through massive change (2) we have already done this and have huge successes to build on (e.g. BLM moving millions of white people into a consciousness of whiteness).

The first chapter is the best: a beautiful weaving of insights from three movement leaders, each of whom have hard-earned street cred from being in the work. Loretta Ross, who coined the concept of reproductive justice; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian activist and organizer. I appreciated the interviews as a mark of how far we've come in movements: Sarsour and Garza in particular have evolved a lot from where they were in 2016 (an evolution I would describe using john powell's language of moving from "breaking" strategies to more "bridging" strategies. (indeed, not citing john's work directly feels like a missed opportunity)

But i actually found his NY Times article - with clear bolded headings making his key points - a much more cogent exposition. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/17/op...

His points are too important to be lost in chapter headings that leave the reader working to come up with the TL;DR. The book could have benefited from a conclusion summarizing the key takeaways. as it is, when it was done i had to go back to remind myself what those key points were... not something most people are likely to do.

He has a gift for storytelling, and he's right that those stories will stick. And he's a beautiful writer; I made copious use of the kindle "highlight" feature.

So: buy the book, because it's important to get this message out. But i actually preferred the article and the podcast interviews as vehicles for conveying his core points... points which are hugely important for progressive movements to reckon with and act upon.

There are points of disagreement that I'd love to explore; the biggest being the title. I think persuasion is the wrong frame, for two reasons. First, it allows us to exempt ourselves from transformation: it imagines that only "they" need to change (spoiler alert: we all need to transform, because we are all complicit to varying degrees in propping up the very systems we seek to dismantle). Second, it triggers resistance. i agree with his recommendations (bridging, deep canvassing, meet people where they are, etc)... but a much more attractive frame i think is invitation. People love to be invited; no one wants to be persuaded. i get (and agree) with his point that we need people to change... i just think we're more likely to be successful if we adopt a stance of invitation.

[Abi W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so admire Anand Giridharadas and am excited about his work. I love who and what he chooses to research and write about, the clarity his projects have, the way they come together. This is one of the books that, although I love public libraries, I want my own copy. This is a book that is here to persuade you that people are persuadable and worth persuading. People change. I took many notes and amidst my notes somewhere during chapter 4, I reflected on how this book tugs at my heartstrings, not because it relies heavily on pathos, but because of how hard I yearn to know how to do and say the right things that will change people's minds, that will get people to care about the things and people that I care about. This book reminds me of a hope I used to have, and that I so badly still want to have, and teaches me about some of the experts who are acting on that hope.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly very interesting, and I think I would love to apply many of the ideas. The ending even made me tear up a bit, and I think it's very true and persuasive, even if it can be a tough ask to engage with people in such a manner.

One complaint is that the AOC chapter went on for ages, to the point where I was getting a little annoyed. The author made his point effectively after the first few examples, but then kept going and going and going with different ways in which AOC juggles the inside-outside game... impressive and interesting, but unnecessarily repetitive.

Two thoughts I want to pull out here:
"We seek out facts and information that validate that feeling we're having, that make us feel like reasonable, rational people," so understanding the emotions behind an opinion, and the shared emotions that might cross opposing opinions, is really important in persuading others... starting from emotions, not just throwing out contradictory facts.
And something also that my mom said, where progressives or intellectuals or others often don't say what they believe in as if it's a given, but people on the right, especially Trumpers, always do. The author underscored why we should focus messaging on outcomes and on the vision we see and on the ways a policy or idea improves people's lives, rather than focusing on the processes and the argumentative facts. Of course, it is important to still have these elements, but we should say something like "universal healthcare improves everyone's lives and makes sure you will not grow old without teeth or good vision." That was probably a terrible example, but maybe also saying "green jobs means this..." rather than going into the details of how we should change the workforce to be more climate-friendly.

This has now become a very long ramble, but I like to have record of my thoughts after reading, so I will post this nonetheless.

[Kaitlin Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The core thesis is that when we give up on the idea that human beings are persuadable, we give up the right to live in a democracy. Because, at its core, a democracy is about speaking to one another, debating one another, and having the freedom to try to change hearts and minds. But in todays polarized world, we’ve given up on the “other” too quickly - believing them entrenched, immovable, and stuck in their ways. It’s become perhaps to easy to write people off than call them into dialogue and learning.

Some of my favorite points from the book:
- many progressive movements have too few “on-ramps” for people to join. If we don’t make space for the “waking” amongst the woke, we lose.
- a lot of political “moderates” aren’t in fact firmly moderate. They are people whose minds aren’t firmly made up, and can be swayed to either side of the political spectrum. So to court these folks we should not water down what we are fighting for (as politicians often do to appease swing voters), but instead we should make the best possible case for the vision of the future we are trying to achieve.
- you will not win any argument by calling the other person racist, sexiest, etc even if they are. Instead, try to find common values and shared experiences, and work from there.

(The book makes the important caveat that it’s not everyone’s responsibility to engage in direct advocacy and teaching, especially people directly affected by systemic discrimination, but offers tips and tricks for those who ARE doing this work).

In each chapter the author interviews a different activist (including AOC!) who takes a unique approach to persuasion that relies more on a “calling in” approach. And he examines it at all levels - from trying to pass federal legislation to trying to change people’s minds through door-to-door canvassing.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone interested in politics, anyone who has had hard thanksgiving conversations, or just anyone who has had a friend or relative pulled into Qanon. It really changed my perspective on how you successfully work to change people’s minds for the greater good.

[Blaine Snow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too woke to be effective. Democracy lost anyway.

I went to the book hoping for a handbook on how to persuade others. Instead I found the book to be mostly stories profiling notable woke people and their accomplishments rather than practical advice on how to actually persuade others. Very thin on practical how-to persuasion techniques. I couldn’t finish it because it was so irritating, going on and on about how amazing each person profiled in the book was.

My post-election view is this book is a good example of why democrats and progressives lost and continue to lose the political middle. Elitist identity politics is losing and the sooner prodemocracy forces can drop it the better. The progressive left and democrats need to entirely revamp their strategies, platforms, rhetoric, and approach. Harris ran what amounted to a perfect campaign spending billions of dollars, crafting excellent middle messaging, executing the best ground game ever, and still lost - but not only that, lost against a convicted felon, sex offender, insurrectionist, serial liar, self-proclaimed autocrat. Voters overlooked all that and chose male charisma with vague promises. Something is profoundly wrong with American culture. With MAGA autocrats now in power, with Project 2025, it's probably-already too late. The only future for the Dems, for progressives is to unite behind saving democracy. There's a lot of pain coming, more than Americans have known for generations. We won't save most of what's in the house but we may just save the house itself. God help us.

[Lisa Bakazias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anand’s 4th book is an outstanding and uplifting set of “research” on persuasion. It first details the pair of Russian agents who successfully accelerated the on-line division of Americans and our “writing-off” culture. However, the remaining chapters follow successful activists such as the organizers of “The March on Washington” in 2017 and Alicia Garza.
Two chapters focused on a mid-west Diversity & Inclusion camp for parents who have adopted Black children and are facing racism. And the success of “deep canvassers” in Arizona focusing on immigration reform and in California focusing on LGBTQ rights.
The impact of progressive leaders was reviewed brilliantly. One of the most powerful chapters was on a phenomenal communications and message writer – Anat Shenker-Osorio. In essence, the book was practical and positive; solution and success oriented. Well done Anand for helping us persuade more successfully to create a society that will work for all. And thank you for your brave candor.

[Wren · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 2.5 and kind of a let down in comparison to the previous book.

[Rick Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminds me of like a wordy, liberal version of Frank Luntz “words that work”

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had this book on my TBR for quite a while, and was waiting to feel ready to read it. Giridharadas’ previous book “Winners Take All” had a transformative impact on my life, and I wondered if this one would also make a strong impression. I’m glad I read it this summer, because it landed like a both a balm and a framework to understand this political moment.

The central premise of the book is that if progressive movements are going to be successful, we need to persuade others to come on board with our vision for society. You need to find ways to bring more people on board to fighting for the rights and dignity of undocumented folks, LGBTQ+ folks, black and brown folks, to fight for economic, climate and social justice. We can’t win if we don’t build the movement by persuading others. So how do we persuade folks, and who does that work?

The book essentially consists of in depth profiles of key “persuaders”: people who have successful worked to persuade others in different ways, and examines how they do it, what their challenges are, and ultimately presents some key lessons that should be used to inform folks in progressive movement spaces.

Among those profiled are Linda Sarsour and Alicia Garza, Bernie Sander and AOC. I found those sections deeply compelling. The most impactful chapter was the one that follows Anat Shenker-Osorio, a progressive organizer and political advisor. Turns out Shenker-Osorio has been one of Tim Walz’s advisors, and some of the wisdom this book contains is now being enacted live during the current US presidential campaign.

The book talks about the approach of organizer Ernesto Nieto, who tries to strike a balance between “being intransigent about what is right and where things must go”, while also “calling people gently into your visions (…) assuming enough of the humanity of those you want to win over”. He also advocates giving folks “the golden gate of retreat”, which is the idea of “giving people who might change their mind a face-saving way out”.

I really loved the deep dive into Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and in particular the ways that AOC uses both the inside and outside game. I’ve long been an admirer of hers, and I came away from that chapter with a much deeper appreciate for the ways she manages to do the very difficult work of straddling the line between social justice movement spaces and their expectations, and the world of Washington politics and the messiness of actually getting things done politically.

AOC understands that there are some things that can only be accomplished by grassroots organizing, and some things can only be done via legislative change, and you need both. She uses an analogy from her father’s work in home renovation: “it took many tools, and there was a time and place for each tool, and different people might use different tools. But in politics some of the metaphorical carpenters ‘think that if you’re painting the house, you’re a bad person or being counterproductive’”.

The most impactful part of this book follows Anat Shenker-Osorio. It argues that a winning strategy is must involve exciting your base and bringing on board the undecided without diluting your message to some imagined white working class person. This section of the book argues that moderates don’t really exist, what you’ve got are folks who are undecided and can be won over. They are persuadable.

We shouldn’t be leading with outrage and problems, but rather with shared values. “Don’t be wonky; don’t assume everyone is one of your activists; paint the beautiful tomorrow; sell the brownie, not the recipe”. Shenker-Osorio’s theory of change is “engage the base, persuade the base, alienate the opposition”

The book ends with an examination of deep canvassing, and the ways it is essential for at least some folks in the movement to truly listen to folks and engage with them in a way that creates an opening for a changed perspective.

This book was excellent and should be required reading for anyone engaged in social justice work.

Some of the key take home messages for me:
- we need to be spending more energy bringing people on board than pushing them out
- there are different tools and approaches that are necessary to progressive movement, and not everyone needs to use the same ones. One of the key approaches must be to meet people where they’re at, meet them with compassion and given them a path to change their mind with dignity. “Making space of the waking among the woke” - Alicia Garza
- Expending energy trying to get folks who are 90% aligned with you to be 100% aligned is not the best use of time. Reaching out to folks who are less aligned will have more impact.
- Stop trying to appeal to some imagined white working class voter by diluting our message. We must energize our base and work on persuading those who are undecided.
- We shouldn’t be leading with outrage and problems, but rather with shared values. “Don’t be wonky; don’t assume everyone is one of your activists; paint the beautiful tomorrow; sell the brownie, not the recipe”. Shenker-Osorio’s theory of change is “engage the base, persuade the undecided, alienate the opposition”

[Cynthia Capra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Persuaders unexpectedly left me feeling rather hopeful about the possibility of strategically communicating with people with different world views, and even changing minds. In the divisive time in which we are living, I often feel frustrated, bordering on hopeless, because Americans seem deadlocked on opposite sides of so many social and political issues.
Anand Giridharadas interviews/studies different types of persuaders, contemporary people with varied expertise, who each have unique perspectives and strategies for bringing about social change. These styles/ techniques are shown to be effective in several different contexts, including organizing/ activism, campaigns, legislating, countering disinformation, de-programing cult believers ( think Q- Anon), and leading people to understand how racism is baked into society. The interviewees describe the process, lessons and pitfalls that have led them to their conclusions about what works in effecting change in others' thinking, leading to support of an issue, candidate, or approach to a problem.
Giridharadas looks at the similarities and generational differences of progressive messaging by AOC and Bernie Sanders, and talks to a BLM leader, Women's March Founder, former Moonie turned public health strategist on inoculation of the public against conspiracy theories, LGBTQ canvassers using "deep" canvassing techniques, educators teaching white adoptive families of children of color to recognize systemic racism and how it affects their parenting. A lot of what I gleaned from the engaging stories, interviews and research really offered new twists in perspective for me which I think can be pretty useful in communication with people not in one's own camp. Worth a try!

[Vidya · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book unfortunately felt like a real chore to read. It came across almost like a senior thesis rather than a very engaging book. It felt like the author was trying to prove his point to you, which I don’t normally feel in great books. The subject is interesting and there were some really good lessons that came across (appeal to the base, not moderates; how to do deep canvassing or persuasion of all types starts with curiosity and understanding and is much less about facts/logic; principles of messaging, etc.). However, the chapters felt too long for me, it was a lot of transcription from interviews and I just found it a bit boring - I’ve been less politically engaged recently, so maybe that’s why.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Some really great insights here, about calling in vs. calling out, and how to approach effective mind shifts. It’s told through poignant vignettes, but I craved more interconnectedness among the chapters and would have liked it to go a step further into a call to action or otherwise present some lessons/takeaways. While powerful, this felt more like a collection of stories than a woven together narrative.

[Jess ~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the single most important book that I have read this year (so far).

The Persuaders offers insight from those who, over the last decade, have spent their time canvasing for progressive values and politicians. The psychology of changing minds is surprisingly simple, yet difficult to put into practice during a heated disagreement. In a nutshell: seek to understand before being understood; seek to explain why a person may have been lied to and how that is not shameful; do not call out, call in; talk about the brownie, not the recipe.

Progressives have a lot of work to do in this messaging arena, and I was so thrilled to see George Lakoff's work mentioned as I think he deserves more recognition on the left. Highly recommend Don't Think of an Elephant for those who want to do more reading on the cognitive linguistics behind values and changing minds.
 
I was very humbled by this book, and it helped me reevaluate my own thoughts and opinions and shined a light on the work that I need to do to become a better communicator.

[Allison Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and pertinent read, especially enjoyed chapter 5 ‘The Art of Messaging’, chapter 6 on combating misinformation, and 7 on deep canvassing.

[Natalie Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good information and examples of people doing the hard work for the good of our society.

[Glennys Egan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this on audiobook. Very thought provoking, articulates a lot of tensions that feel very familiar. Chapters on coalition building, AOC, messaging and deep canvassing were standouts for me. Not sure I’d consider this book super rigorous as it feels fairly committed to a certain narrative/approach — as far as a book as a whole goes, not sure I’d go 5 stars — but it provides enough compelling ideas that I want to keep considering and putting into practice that for me it will be one of the better reads of the year!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book lifts up the process of really getting into conversations with folks you don't agree with. Listening, asking questions, finding out what they care about and why, is key to making lasting change. Connecting with and validating another's experiences brings us closer together. We've got a lot of work to do, and many hands will make it lighter.

[Kim Zoby Fulgham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. Appreciated the arc to preview.

[Marco M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2022, it feels like there may need to be a revision since the last 3 years has made this uphill battle much more difficult.

[Matthew Budman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Persuaders is extraordinarily readable, a series of fluidly reported profiles of activists engaged—not always effectively—in trying to expand coalitions through persuasion. Giridharadas's discussion feels essential at a time when the world seems more divided than ever and political professionals focus on base turnout rather than on winning over persuadable undecideds. And there are insights in the stories here valuable enough to truly change the way one thinks & argues & debates about the most important issues.

It's a shame that the book doesn't make those insights easier to find and use. The author is committed to three-dimensional storytelling, with full-bodied portraits of his subjects and their work, at the expense of clarity and utility. I really enjoyed reading about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Linda Sarsour and Bernie Sanders and a host of less prominent activists on the front lines of changing hearts and minds for the better, but the most valuable points are buried within their life stories, way too easy to miss. Giridharadas is so respectful of his subjects that he even refrains from opining that one's persuasion strategy might be more effective than another's. I assumed there'd be a closing section pulling together lessons and teachings, but the book simply stops. Give us a little help, Anand!

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

“Change your language to increase comprehension, not comfort.”

This is honestly one of the better quotes I’ve heard in the past few years. The book is obviously fairly biased towards the perspectives of its subjects, but the subjective experience of subjects is why we read semi-autobiographical stories, so I don’t really have an issue with it. Honestly this has made me like AOC more, it seems she genuinely believes in most of what she says, and whether I agree with all of it or not, it's an interesting and provocative book, with many interesting takeaways.

“Every hurt is not trying to exterminate you.”

"You can’t change people, all you can do is help them."

“We don’t make room for the ‘waking’ among the ‘woke’.” This is so often an issue within Christianity and in myself, I don't allow for grace for those who are just beginning their journey.

“We do not believe in converting people, our work is with the willing.”

Many are more worried about finding heretics than converts.

“If you reach out too far across the chasm, you may fall in.”

"The thing that gives you the most power is not allowing others to have power over you."

"Our distilled vision has been cut with so many mixers that it has become juice."

“Voters aren’t stirred to reduce harm, they’re motivated to create good.”

"People can change, people do change."