League of Women Voters, Cooperstown and Oneonta
Reducing Political Polarization Project Resources, Annotated Version

Books:
Ezra Klein, Why We're Polarized, 2020. Left-leaning, wonky analysis of polls, academic studies and anecdotes.  Gets deep into the weeds at times, but overall Klein makes a useful argument about the mechanics of polarization.

Amy Chua,  Political Tribes, 2018. Slightly right of center; examines American political divisions within the context of other fragile democracies in the world; explains the drawbacks of identity politics very clearly.

Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, 2016. A sociological study of right-wing Tea Party believers in SW Louisiana; very useful for Hochschild's “scaling of the empathy wall” in an attempt to understand people who are very different than she is.

Thomas Frank,  Listen Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People, 2016. A warning to the Democratic Party from a party stalwart with populist sympathies.

David Litt: Democracy in One Book or Less, 2020. The author is a former Obama administration speechwriter who proudly flaunts his Democratic Party bonafides. Useful for learning how Republicans have slowly chipped away at voting rights.  

Daniel Allott,  On the Road in Trump's America: A Journey Into the Heart of a Divided Nation

Lilliana Mason,  Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity

Nathan Borney,  Bridge Builders: Bringing People Together in a Polarized Age

Sophia Rosenfeld,  Democracy and Truth: A Short History

Robert Talisse,  Sustaining Democracy: What We Owe the Other Side


Websites:
C-SPAN programs, especially Washington Journal (c-span.org). WJ is a very well-balanced program that takes phone calls from both sides of the political spectrum.  Listening, you're guaranteed to hear voices that you don't agree with.

Pew Research Center has several resources.  One is the 2020 post election study (https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/01/24/u-s media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/). This is a thorough study of media outlets and where they, and their viewers/listeners, fall on the political spectrum.  Pew also has an excellent podcast called Beyond Polarization.

The following organizations all sponsor studies, seminars and activities to help cool the flames of political polarization.  All of them are non-partisan, cooperative ventures that feature voices from across the political spectrum.  If you want to do the work of reducing polarization, any of these websites can be very helpful.
More in Common (moreincommon.com)
Living Room Conversations (livingroomconversations.org)
Braver Angels seminars and forums (braverangels.org)
AllSides seminars and forums (allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news)
Unite America (uniteamerica.org)

Open Secrets: Following the Money in Politics (opensecrets.org).  A vast compendium of where elected politicians and candidates get their money.  An essential source for understanding the bankrolling of political polarization.

Michael Smerconish, especially his September 2021 speech at the Reagan Memorial Library (Smerconish.com; speech also on YouTube).  Smerconish is a talk show host on Sirius XM during the week and CNN on Saturday mornings.  He cultivates a “stuck-in-the-middle-with-you” persona and interviews a variety of guests from across the political spectrum.  The September 2021 speech presents the argument that political polarization emerged in the late 1980's and early 90's in right wing radio, personified by Rush Limbaugh.
 
The BiPartisan Policy Center (bipartisanpolicy.org).  Founded and led by politicians and policy-makers, an insider organization working to defuse polarization through cooperative programs and legislation.

The Unconvention--October 7, 2022 (unconvention2022.com). Sponsored by The BiPartisan Policy Center and Michael Smerconish, the event gathered prominent voices from across the political spectrum in a day long “Purple” convention as an alternative to the “Red” Republican and “Blue” Democratic ones.

Common Ground Scorecard (commongroundcommittee.org).  As the webpage states, “a tool for helping voters learn which elected officials and candidates seek common ground on important issues to move the country forward.”

The Guardian has a running project called “Dining Across the Divide.”  In 2023 they did a special US version that you can find here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/dining-across-the-divide-us

Please send any other resources to tompullyblank [at] gmail.com.