Gradual, Greg Berman
Gradual, Greg Berman
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Gradual
The Case for Incremental Change in a Radical Age

Author: Greg Berman, Aubrey Fox

Narrator: Tim Fannon

Unabridged: 7 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/28/2023


Synopsis

Many experts believe that we are at a fulcrum moment in history, a time that demands radical shifts in thinking and policymaking. Calls for bold change are everywhere these days, particularly on social media. But is this actually the best way to make the world a better place?

In Gradual, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox argue that, contrary to the aspirations of activists on both the right and the left, incremental reform is the best path forward. They begin by emphasizing that the very structure of American government explicitly and implicitly favors incrementalism. Particularly in a time
of intense polarization, any effort to advance radical change will inevitably engender significant backlash. As Berman and Fox make clear, polling shows little public support for bold change. The public is, however, willing to endorse a broad range of incremental reforms that, if implemented, would reduce suffering and
improve fairness. To illustrate how incremental changes can add up to significant change over time, Berman and Fox provide portraits of “heroic incrementalists” who have produced meaningful reforms in a variety of areas, from the expansion of Social Security to more recent efforts to reduce crime and incarceration.

Gradual is a bracing call for a “radical realism” that prioritizes honesty, humility, nuance, and respect in an effort to transcend political polarization and reduce the conflict produced by social media.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin on July 14, 2023

While the authors clearly come from a more progressive worldview and mine is more conservative, I could not agree more with their call for incrementalism. At the heart of the book is both a philosophical and historical understanding that big, systematic, revolutionary change is both difficult and ra......more

Goodreads review by Mark on February 28, 2023

What a wise and hopeful antidote to today's angry political discourse. Incremental, gradual change gets a bad rap as too little, too late. But this book shows in plain, punchy language why that verdict is exactly backward. Extremism and zero-sum games may entertain partisan combatants, but they do n......more

Goodreads review by Marks54 on April 16, 2023

This is a book singing the praises of incrementalism as a model for understanding how real decision making and policy implementation can and should happen, as opposed to various positions representing comprehensive and often radical change in complex human undertakings. This book is positioned as a......more

Goodreads review by Justin on January 29, 2024

Incredibly important work that puts the lie to government not being able to accomplish large projects or that the executive state is failing us--instead it just works deliberately and over a longer time course than even the most patient of us imagine. This truly is a book for our times, where both t......more

Goodreads review by Charles on December 17, 2024

54% Gradual, absolutely. A gradual approach to change with bipartisanism, advocating for a more unified political approach. Beautiful. Obviously we don't like extremists on the other side. I know you don't. I don't either. That's why I like you. The fascinating part about this book is that while it a......more