Profiles in Ignorance: How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

Written by Andy Borowitz

Narrated by Andy Borowitz

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER *WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER *

Andy Borowitz, “one of the funniest people in America” (CBS Sunday Morning), brilliantly “chronicles our embrace of anti-intellectualism” (Walter Isaacson) in American politics, from Ronald Reagan to Dan Quayle, from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin, to its apotheosis in Donald J. Trump.

Andy Borowitz has been called a “Swiftian satirist” (The Wall Street Journal) and “one of the country’s finest satirists” (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column “The Borowitz Report.” Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he delivers “a wittily alarming polemic that tracks the evolution of American politics from grounds for gravitas to festival of idiocy” (The New York Times).

Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the US has elected politicians to positions of great power whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades.

Profiles in Ignorance aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of these public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most importantly, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn’t move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781797147581

Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz is an award-winning comedian and New York Times bestselling author. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard College, where he became President of the Harvard Lampoon. In 1998, he began contributing humor to The New Yorker’s “Shouts & Murmurs” and “Talk of the Town” departments, and in 2001, he created “The Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, which has millions of readers around the world. In 2012, The New Yorker began publishing “The Borowitz Report.” As a storyteller, he hosted “Stories at the Moth” from 1999 to 2009. As a comedian, he has played to sold-out venues around the world, including during his national tour, “Make America Not Embarrassing Again,” from 2018 to 2020. He is the first-ever winner of the National Press Club’s humor award. He lives with his family in New Hampshire.

Reviews for Profiles in Ignorance

[Tony Barrett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This reminder of how clueless the American public has been is nothing short of astounding. It’s a miracle that our country is still standing. Nevertheless, we must remind our fellow citizens to think, to read, and to vote with their critical faculties. The thought that millions of citizens still believe this huckster from New York is why every American should listen to this book. A brilliant wake up call! Listen to what those who actually attempted to work with Trump. These are direct quotes! And millions still believe him. WTF.

[Angela Johns · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting but disturbing read. Just makes me more anxious about the state of politics.

[Pat Mowery · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating, extremely well researched and written, but very alarming. Borowitz does a terrific job of tying history together as to how we got where we are now in politics. If we don’t start getting involved and voting with our heads, we are doomed.

[Bryan Lawson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Extremely well written and read with just the right amount of snark.

[Steven Stankevitz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was a great read. Could not stop listening to it.