A great and engaging read - the chapters were a bit too long and into the weeds for course curriculum (though not for my enjoyment!), but I will definitely be referring to this text and recommending it as additional content throughout the semester.

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas is a look through a predominately progressive lens "At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy." Giridharadas, best-selling author of Winners Take All and award-winning former New York Times columnist, profiles several activists, beginning with Linda Sarsour and the Women's March on Washington. He also writes about how "an astonishing 17 percent of Americans were said to be QAnon believers now." It is painful to read some of the examples that Giridharadas cites: "“a plague of grief without deaths. People mourned the lost living, whose minds had passed on to some strange beyond." He goes on to describe research that advocates for "appeal[ing] to them instead as critical thinkers who deserve to know that they are being misled." One of the sources he mentions is John Cook's book titled Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change. That text explores concepts like fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry pricking, and conspiracy theories in an often humorous way which may be more appealing for students. As Giridharadas says, "What if you accepted their lies as here to stay and sought to forge citizens resistant to them?" Librarians and information literacy experts have so much to do. Giridharadas raises many good points and questions, but the text has weaknesses: he focuses almost exclusively on highlighting a progressive/liberal viewpoint and there is no bibliography despite use of statistics and other evidence in the text. The narratives were interesting, but it was not always easy to follow the argument's flow or develop a useful persuasion playbook. However, THE PERSUADERS received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus. Have a critical thinking look and decide for yourself.