Lies That Kill: A Citizen’s Guide to Disinformation

Kamarck (sr. fellow and director, Brookings Inst. Ctr. for Effective Public Management; Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again) and West (sr. fellow, Brookings Inst. Ctr. for Technology Innovation; coauthor of Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence) have written extensively on public policy. Together, they present a simple but effective manual that spotlights, analyzes, and discusses the many threads of disinformation circulating in the news, social media, and the general public. Writing in a clear and comprehensive writing style, they show how the U.S. political, social, and economic environments make disinformation believable to large numbers of people and difficult to stop or prevent. The first seven chapters each focus on one contentious current issue: smear tactics, climate change, election security, war, public health, race relations, and impediments to the ability to govern. The eighth chapter provides feasible action plans for individuals and institutions to restrain (and maybe even eliminate) the increasingly pervasive techniques that destroy society’s cohesion.