The Elephant in the Room cover art

The Elephant in the Room

A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the "Alt-Right"

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The Elephant in the Room

By: Jon Ronson
Narrated by: Jon Ronson
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About this listen

'But Hillary is a known Luciferian,' he tried.
'She's not a known Luciferian,' I said.
'Well, yes and no,' he said.

In The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson, the New York Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, Them and So You've Been Publicly Shamed, travels to Cleveland at the height of summer to witness the Republican National Convention. Along the way he reunites with an old acquaintance - the influential provocateur and conspiracy talk-show host Alex Jones - who draws him, unexpectedly, into one of the most bizarre presidential campaigns in American history.

From the private Winnebago where conspiracy theorists and fearmongers discuss key campaign decisions to a chance encounter with notorious political operative Roger Stone, Ronson's picaresque journey into Donald Trump's atmosphere introduces us to the people who orbit the campaign machine and discovers what makes them tick - and what ticks them off.

Whimsical, hilarious and often downright terrifying, The Elephant in the Room captures a defining moment in our time as only Jon Ronson could see it.

©2016 Jon Ronson (P)2016 Audible, Ltd.
Elections & Political Process Politics & Government Social Sciences Witty Funny Elephant
All stars
Most relevant  
Worth listening to despite the election result undermining some content. Ronson's narrative style is unusual but appealing.



A reminder of the mistake made

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So many of us hoped that what did happen wouldn't happen but it did. I don't want to pay attention to the madness of culture any more than I really need to but couldn't help myself and had to listen to this. The author, to his credit, assumes the readers are capable of making their own informed choices while still making his own opinions clear. The kind of decent journalism that many people in this book are so angry about no longer existing over attention and dominating the conversation. I had previously appreciated So You've Been Publicly Shamed and the film Frank, which I loved.
PS I outright bought it so I'm not as miffed as other reviewers about losing a credit over a 1hr47mins audiobook.

Balanced, which is very welcome and sadly rare

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The ending. That’s all. Jesus Christ.
This sentence is to meet the minimum word limit. Bye.

Listening to this in 2021 is Extremely Ominous

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Great content and presentation, just way too short. I'm an idiot for not reading the notes but it's listed as a book, by a guy who writes books. I assumed it was book length.Itt's not. I'd almost consider it a podcast.

The content is great. I'm just disappointed that I feel I got a raw deal using a monthly credit on it.

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