The Smallest Minority

Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics

By: Kevin D. Williamson

Narrated by: Stephen Graybill

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

"The most profane, hilarious, and insightful book I've read in quite a while." --BEN SHAPIRO

"Kevin Williamson's gonzo merger of polemic, autobiography, and batsh*t craziness is totally brilliant." --JOHN PODHORETZ, Commentary

"Ideological minorities - including the smallest minority, the individual - can get trampled by the unity stampede (as my friend Kevin Williamson masterfully elucidates in his new book, The Smallest Minority)." --JONAH GOLDBERG

“The Smallest Minority is the perfect antidote to our heedless age of populist politics. It is a book unafraid to tell the people that they’re awful.” --NATIONAL REVIEW

"Williamson is blistering and irreverent, stepping without doubt on more than a few toes - but, then again, that’s kind of the point." --THE NEW CRITERION

"Stylish, unrestrained, and straight from the mind of a pissed-off genius." --THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON

Kevin Williamson is "shocking and brutal" (RUTH MARCUS, Washington Post), "a total jack**s" (WILL SALETAN, Slate), and "totally reprehensible" (PAUL KRUGMAN, New York Times).

Listener beware: Kevin D. Williamson - the lively, literary firebrand from National Review who was too hot for The Atlantic to handle - comes to bury democracy, not to praise it. With electrifying honesty and spirit, Williamson takes a flamethrower to mob politics, the “beast with many heads” that haunts social media and what currently passes for real life. It’s destroying our capacity for individualism and dragging us down “the Road to Smurfdom, the place where the deracinated demos of the Twitter age finds itself feeling small and blue.”

The Smallest Minority is by no means a memoir, though Williamson does reflect on that “tawdry little episode” with The Atlantic in which he became all-too-intimately acquainted with mob outrage and the forces of tribalism.

Rather, this book is a dizzying tour through a world you’ll be horrified to recognize as your own. With biting appraisals of social media (“an economy of Willy Lomans,” political hustlers (“that certain kind of man or woman...who will kiss the collective ass of the mob”), journalists (“a contemptible union of neediness and arrogance”) and identity politics (“identity is more accessible than policy, which requires effort”), The Smallest Minority is a defiant, funny, and terrifyingly insightful book about what we human beings have done to ourselves.

©2019 Kevin Williamson (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc,. all rights reserved.

Worth A Listen

Williamson is an arrogant know it all and an important thinker. The book is funny, crude and thoughtful. Definitely worth a listen.

Excellent

Not normally in to snarky, vulgar and contemptuous. But, this one wraps them up in some good points. I've already recommended it to friends, relatives and (now) to you.

Love Williamson's Writing, Less Keen on the Voice

A very enjoyable, thought provoking, well written book. While I think the voice actor did a good job, I don't think he would be my first choice.

brilliant

KDW breaks down and diagnoses the problems with social media and politics obsessed culture. A must read

Absolutely Brilliant

An absolutely brilliant book. This is Kevin’s best writing to date-incredibly sharp wordsmithery that even longtime readers won’t expect to be so well done. Unlike my last sentence… At times hopeful and at times very cynical, this is the writing of somebody who has stuck his chin out there and taking a few shots to that same chin. The book covers a lot of history in just six hours of listening, but Kevin is able to string an incredibly convincing narrative together throughout. The narrator also did an excellent job. While I had hoped that Kevin himself would have read the book, Stephen Graybill gave a very solid performance capturing Williamson’s voice.

Decent Overall

While Williamson writes a little too much and too pretentiously about himself for my taste, the subjects he explores here are interesting enough that this isn't a big deal.

The reader, Stephen Graybill, has a great voice but reads too quickly, sometimes mispronouncing a word or messing up the rhythm of a sentence. It wasn't too distracting, but definitely noticeable.

just ok.

His imperious tone is a little tired after a while. I don't know how he can see us little people from his high horse.

Fantastic book; wish it was read by Williamson

Kevin D Williamson’s writing was, as always, insightful and intelligent. Simultaneously harsh, eloquent, witty and brash. Touches on very deep important topics, while remaining immensely entertaining. Highly recommended to anyone interested in politics, culture, and society, regardless of their priors.

The performance was good in its own right, but as a frequent listener to Williamson’s podcast with Charles C.W. Cooke, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, it didn’t sound quite right hearing Williamson’s words read in this voice. Williamson’s voice and dry witty delivery is perfect for his material, and Graybill just does not deliver it to the same effect.

a scorcher

Unapologetically high-minded and vulgar. Also the best argument for "making satan great again" I've read.

Well written and original

Thoughtful critique of the rationale behind outrage culture. Those in the center right and left will resonate with many of these themes, particularly the critique of corporate culture. Far right and left will disagree with much of what is said.