Red Brains, Blue Brains

Authoritarian We Will Go!

The first book in the series - "Red Brains, Blue Brains: The Psychology of MAGA" - covered authoritarianism generally, but its focus was more on the moment – the season of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, which still threatens to persist at this writing. This second book seeks to expand the discussion beyond Trump and MAGA, peering into the human past and the role of authoritarian thought and behavior within the human story.

In addition, it will hopefully add to the body of research presented in the first book, with a hefty section devoted to studies that explicate aspects of authoritarian thinking and behavior as it pertains to a number of adjacent areas – prejudice, ideology, religion, conservatism, tribalism, dominance, and even fake news.

Above all, the idea here is to present the message that a critical assessment of authoritarianism does not imply that authoritarians are “bad” or “evil” or “wrong” – but that those who lean into authoritarian thought and behavior are doing so for reasons that are natural (even innate), inevitable, and – most importantly – understandable. The deep human story, along with the nuances of the human brain, explain why authoritarians think as they do and see the world and other people as they do.

(from the Introduction)