True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society

Why has punditry overtaken news, with so many media outlets pushing partisan agendas instead of information? Comedian Stephen Colbert’s catchword "truthiness" captured something essential about our age: that people are more comfortable with ideas that feel true, even if the evidence for those beliefs is thin.

With brilliant insights from psychology, sociology, and economics, Manjoo explains how myths pushed by both partisans and marketers—whether about global warming, the war in Iraq, 9/11, or even the virtues of a certain candy bar—have attracted wide support in recent years. His characters include the Swift Boat veterans, Lou Dobbs, and conspiracy theorists of all varieties, all of whom prove that true matters less, now, than true enough.