Try free for 30 days

  • Profiles in Ignorance

  • How America's Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber
  • By: Andy Borowitz
  • Narrated by: Andy Borowitz
  • Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Profiles in Ignorance cover art

Profiles in Ignorance

By: Andy Borowitz
Narrated by: Andy Borowitz
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.32

Buy Now for $26.32

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER *WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER *

Andy Borowitz, “one of the funniest people in America” (CBS Sunday Morning), brilliantly “chronicles our embrace of anti-intellectualism” (Walter Isaacson) in American politics, from Ronald Reagan to Dan Quayle, from George W. Bush to Sarah Palin, to its apotheosis in Donald J. Trump.

Andy Borowitz has been called a “Swiftian satirist” (The Wall Street Journal) and “one of the country’s finest satirists” (The New York Times). Millions of fans and New Yorker readers enjoy his satirical news column “The Borowitz Report.” Now, in Profiles in Ignorance, he delivers “a wittily alarming polemic that tracks the evolution of American politics from grounds for gravitas to festival of idiocy” (The New York Times).

Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge, and mass media have encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Borowitz shows how, during the age of twenty-four-hour news and social media, the US has elected politicians to positions of great power whose lack of the most basic information is terrifying. In addition to Reagan, Quayle, Bush, Palin, and Trump, Borowitz covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors who have helped lower the bar over the past five decades.

Profiles in Ignorance aims to make us both laugh and cry: laugh at the idiotic antics of these public figures, and cry at the cataclysms these icons of ignorance have caused. But most importantly, the book delivers a call to action and a cause for optimism: History doesn’t move in a straight line, and we can change course if we act now.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Andy Borowitz. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic Reviews

"Andy Borowitz, writer, humorist, actor, and creator of the often bitingly satirical “Borowitz Report,” which skewers contemporary politics and politicians at every turn, has in his new audiobook set his sights on the rise of ignorance in American politics. In a sharp turn from John F. Kennedy's classic PROFILES IN COURAGE, which highlighted bravery and integrity in politics, Borowitz's PROFILES IN IGNORANCE features a cavalcade of politicians who, Borowitz argues, are sorely lacking in the knowledge necessary to govern. Borowitz’s narration enables him to inject a measure of sarcasm and irony into the material. His convincing parodies of the vocal cadences of various featured politicians add a further humorous touch."AudioFile Magazine

What listeners say about Profiles in Ignorance

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly brilliant

Fabulous indictment of past Administrations that continually brought to mind Dude, where’s my car.
Alas the SUA - States Uniting America; is a real place, paid to function for profit by encouraging bigoted insidious ugliness against it citizens.
That Ivy is a creeper able to stifle it’s chosen victims is overt in the US league of educators.
Andy Borowitz I am definitely delighted of your erudite wit, thanks for your collection of words, much appreciated. :-)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.