Overview

Arming Americans to defend the truth from today's war on facts Disinformation. Trolling. Conspiracies. Social media pile-ons. Campus intolerance. On the surface, these recent additions to our daily vocabulary appear to have little in common. But together, they are driving an epistemic crisis: a multifront challenge to America's ability to distinguish fact from fiction and elevate truth above falsehood. In 2016, Russian trolls and bots nearly drowned the truth in a flood of fake news and conspiracy theories, and Donald Trump and his troll armies continued to do the same. Social media companies struggled to keep up with a flood of falsehoods and too often didn't even seem to try. Experts and some public officials began wondering if society was losing its grip on truth itself. Meanwhile, another new phenomenon appeared: cancel culture. At the push of a button, those armed with a cellphone could gang up by the thousands on anyone who ran afoul of their sanctimony. In this pathbreaking book, Jonathan Rauch reaches back to the parallel eighteenth-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the Constitution of Knowledge--our social system for turning disagreement into truth. By explicating the Constitution of Knowledge and probing the war on reality, Rauch arms defenders of truth with a clearer understanding of what they must protect, why they must do so--and how they can do it. This book is a sweeping and readable description of how every American can help defend objective truth and free inquiry from threats as far away as Russia and as close as the cellphone.

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Reviews

A hugely valuable and necessary book, an illuminating exploration of the flight from fact. -- Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling winning author In what could be the timeliest book of the year, Rauch aims to arm his readers to engage with reason in an age of illiberalism. -- Newsweek Rauch is especially astute about the importance of hearing diverse viewpoints...He writes at helpful length about the difference between criticizing and canceling. -- New York Times Book Review Rauch offers an original definition of this epistemological crisis, as well as a range of innovative solutions. -- Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rauch spares neither right- nor left-leaning activists...Even readers who disagree with his politics may be moved by his poignant argument from personal experience. -- Kirkus Reviews Readers will come away from The Constitution of Knowledge not just concerned about the mess we're in, but also with new ideas as to how we might dig ourselves out of it. -- Neal Stephenson, New York Times bestselling author

"A hugely valuable and necessary book, an illuminating exploration of the flight from fact. -- ""Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling winning author"" In what could be the timeliest book of the year, Rauch aims to arm his readers to engage with reason in an age of illiberalism. -- ""Newsweek"" Rauch is especially astute about the importance of hearing diverse viewpoints...He writes at helpful length about the difference between criticizing and canceling. -- ""New York Times Book Review"" Rauch offers an original definition of this epistemological crisis, as well as a range of innovative solutions. -- ""Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author"" Rauch spares neither right- nor left-leaning activists...Even readers who disagree with his politics may be moved by his poignant argument from personal experience. -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Readers will come away from The Constitution of Knowledge not just concerned about the mess we're in, but also with new ideas as to how we might dig ourselves out of it. -- ""Neal Stephenson, New York Times bestselling author"""

Author Information

Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at the Atlantic. He is the author of books and articles on a wide range of subjects, including politics, public policy, culture, and LGBT rights, and is the winner of multiple prizes, including the 2005 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.

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