The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Is America getting meaner?

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Sean Illing and David Brooks talk about Brooks’s recent essay, “How America Got Mean.” They discuss the country's moral history, how politics and culture have shifted our perception of connection and community, and what can be done to make things nicer.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area

Guest: David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks), author and op-ed columnist

References: 

  • “How America Got Mean” by David Brooks (The Atlantic, August 2023)
  • How to Know a Person by David Brooks (Penguin Random House, 2023)
  • The Road to Character by David Brooks (Penguin Random House, 2016)
  • The Social Animal by David Brooks (Penguin Random House, 2012)
  • The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again by Robert D. Putnam (Simon & Schuster, 2021)


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    This episode was made by: 

    • Engineer: Patrick Boyd
    • Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall

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