This is Not Normal: The Politics of Everyday Expectations

By: Cass R. Sunstein

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

This sharp and engaging collection of essays by leading governmental scholar Cass R. Sunstein examines shifting understandings of what's normal and how those shifts account for the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the rise of gun rights, the response to COVID-19, and changing understandings of liberty. Prevailing norms include the principle of equal dignity, the idea of not treating the press as an enemy of the people, and the social unacceptability of open expressions of racial discrimination.

But norms are very different from laws. They arise and change in response to individual and collective action. Exploring Nazism, #MeToo, the work of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, constitutional amendments, pandemics, and the influence of Ayn Rand, Sunstein reveals how norms ultimately determine the shape of government in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the recipient of the 2018 Holberg Prize from the Government of Norway, often described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities.

©2021 Cass R. Sunstein (P)2021 W F Howes

All over the place

Thia book is kind of all over the place. But this book is also pretty great.

Biased to the left

Even being a conservative, I’ve enjoyed Cass Sunstein‘s books. He compares Donald Trump to Hitler, if not directly in an obviously implied manner. This is weak and inconsiderate of what Hitler actually did. I’m not a fan of Trump, but he was no Hitler. I waited through that muddy portion of the book thinking it would get better. Not much better so I stopped listening.

Liberal mumbo jumbo

Boring and rambling Uses a liberal’s Interpretation of events and assignment of values which makes the whole thing questionable to me