
Bad Stories
What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Steve Almond
-
By:
-
Steve Almond
About this listen
Like a lot of Americans, Steve Almond spent the weeks after the 2016 election lying awake, in a state of dread and bewilderment. The problem wasn't just the election, but the fact that nobody could explain, in any sort of coherent way, why America had elected a cruel, corrupt, and incompetent man to the Presidency. Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country is Almond's effort to make sense of our historical moment, to connect certain dots that go unconnected amid the deluge of hot takes and think pieces. Almond looks to literary voices―from Melville to Orwell, from Bradbury to Baldwin―to help explain the roots of our moral erosion as a people.
The book argues that Trumpism is a bad outcome arising directly from the bad stories we tell ourselves. To understand how we got here, we have to confront our cultural delusions: our obsession with entertainment, sports, and political parody, the degeneration of our free press into a for-profit industry, our enduring pathologies of race, class, immigration, and tribalism. Bad Stories is a lamentation aimed at providing clarity. It's the book you can pass along to an anguished fellow traveler with the promise, This will help you understand what the hell happened to our country.
©2018 Steve Almond (P)2018 Red Hen Press, all rights reserved. Published by Brilliance Publishing, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
All the Secrets of the World
- A Novel
- By: Steve Almond
- Narrated by: Roxanne Hernandez
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1981 in Sacramento, and thirteen-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair. Lorena begins to spend time at the Stallworth residence and finds herself seduced, not just by Jenny but her parents: Rosemary, her mother, and Marcus, a scorpiologist who recognizes Lorena’s passion for learning. When Lorena’s troubled older brother, Tony, picks her up at the Stallworth mansion late one night, he and Marcus exchange tense words—an encounter that draws the Saenz family into the dark heart of America’s criminal justice system.
-
-
Excellent Story
- By Amy Tollner on 03-18-24
By: Steve Almond
-
The Nazi Seizure of Power (Revised Edition)
- The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945
- By: William Sheridan Allen
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic work of twentieth-century history, William Sheridan Allen demonstrates how dictatorship subtly surmounted democracy in Germany and how the Nazi seizure of power encroached from below. Relying upon legal records and interviews with primary sources, Allen dissects Northeim, Germany with microscopic precision to depict the transformation of a sleepy town to a Nazi stronghold. This cogent analysis argues that Hitler rose to power primarily through democratic tactics that incited localized support rather than through violent means.
-
-
A must read in the era of Trump
- By Samuel M. Rector on 06-15-24
-
It's Time to Fight Dirty
- How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics
- By: David Faris
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American electoral system is clearly falling apart - as evidenced by the 2016 presidential election. In It's Time to Fight Dirty, David Faris offers accessible, actionable strategies for American institutional reform which don't require a constitutional amendment, and would have a lasting impact on our future. With equal amounts of playful irreverence and persuasive reasoning, Faris describes how the Constitution's deep democratic flaws constantly put progressives at a disadvantage, and lays out strategies for "fighting dirty" though obstructionism and procedural warfare.
-
-
Voiced frustrations of a long time liberal
- By Penguin on 10-15-18
By: David Faris
-
Information Wars
- How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It
- By: Richard Stengel
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the final three years of the Obama administration, Richard Stengel, the former editor of Time magazine and an Under Secretary of State, was the single person in government tasked with unpacking, disproving, and combating both ISIS's messaging and Russian disinformation. Then, in 2016, as the presidential election unfolded, Stengel watched as Donald Trump used disinformation himself, weaponizing the grievances of Americans who felt overlooked. In fact, Stengel quickly came to see how all three players had used the same playbook: ISIS sought to make Islam great again....
-
-
Partisan and defeatist at best.
- By Tim on 01-25-20
By: Richard Stengel
-
A New Foreign Policy
- Beyond American Exceptionalism
- By: Jeffrey D. Sachs
- Narrated by: Steve Menasche
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A New Foreign Policy explores both the danger of the "America first" mind-set and the possibilities for a new way forward, proposing timely and achievable plans to foster global economic growth, reconfigure the United Nations for the 21st century, and build a multipolar world that is prosperous, peaceful, fair, and resilient.
-
-
Look Elsewhere
- By Jonathan on 03-08-19
By: Jeffrey D. Sachs
-
American Republics
- A Continental History of the United States 1783-1850
- By: Alan Taylor
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this beautifully written history of America’s formative period, a preeminent historian upends the traditional story of a young nation confidently marching to its continent-spanning destiny.
-
-
Helps the dots of history to today.
- By Tascha F. on 06-26-21
By: Alan Taylor
-
All the Secrets of the World
- A Novel
- By: Steve Almond
- Narrated by: Roxanne Hernandez
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1981 in Sacramento, and thirteen-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair. Lorena begins to spend time at the Stallworth residence and finds herself seduced, not just by Jenny but her parents: Rosemary, her mother, and Marcus, a scorpiologist who recognizes Lorena’s passion for learning. When Lorena’s troubled older brother, Tony, picks her up at the Stallworth mansion late one night, he and Marcus exchange tense words—an encounter that draws the Saenz family into the dark heart of America’s criminal justice system.
-
-
Excellent Story
- By Amy Tollner on 03-18-24
By: Steve Almond
-
The Nazi Seizure of Power (Revised Edition)
- The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945
- By: William Sheridan Allen
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic work of twentieth-century history, William Sheridan Allen demonstrates how dictatorship subtly surmounted democracy in Germany and how the Nazi seizure of power encroached from below. Relying upon legal records and interviews with primary sources, Allen dissects Northeim, Germany with microscopic precision to depict the transformation of a sleepy town to a Nazi stronghold. This cogent analysis argues that Hitler rose to power primarily through democratic tactics that incited localized support rather than through violent means.
-
-
A must read in the era of Trump
- By Samuel M. Rector on 06-15-24
-
It's Time to Fight Dirty
- How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics
- By: David Faris
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American electoral system is clearly falling apart - as evidenced by the 2016 presidential election. In It's Time to Fight Dirty, David Faris offers accessible, actionable strategies for American institutional reform which don't require a constitutional amendment, and would have a lasting impact on our future. With equal amounts of playful irreverence and persuasive reasoning, Faris describes how the Constitution's deep democratic flaws constantly put progressives at a disadvantage, and lays out strategies for "fighting dirty" though obstructionism and procedural warfare.
-
-
Voiced frustrations of a long time liberal
- By Penguin on 10-15-18
By: David Faris
-
Information Wars
- How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It
- By: Richard Stengel
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the final three years of the Obama administration, Richard Stengel, the former editor of Time magazine and an Under Secretary of State, was the single person in government tasked with unpacking, disproving, and combating both ISIS's messaging and Russian disinformation. Then, in 2016, as the presidential election unfolded, Stengel watched as Donald Trump used disinformation himself, weaponizing the grievances of Americans who felt overlooked. In fact, Stengel quickly came to see how all three players had used the same playbook: ISIS sought to make Islam great again....
-
-
Partisan and defeatist at best.
- By Tim on 01-25-20
By: Richard Stengel
-
A New Foreign Policy
- Beyond American Exceptionalism
- By: Jeffrey D. Sachs
- Narrated by: Steve Menasche
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A New Foreign Policy explores both the danger of the "America first" mind-set and the possibilities for a new way forward, proposing timely and achievable plans to foster global economic growth, reconfigure the United Nations for the 21st century, and build a multipolar world that is prosperous, peaceful, fair, and resilient.
-
-
Look Elsewhere
- By Jonathan on 03-08-19
By: Jeffrey D. Sachs
-
American Republics
- A Continental History of the United States 1783-1850
- By: Alan Taylor
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this beautifully written history of America’s formative period, a preeminent historian upends the traditional story of a young nation confidently marching to its continent-spanning destiny.
-
-
Helps the dots of history to today.
- By Tascha F. on 06-26-21
By: Alan Taylor
-
Anatomy of Malice
- The Enigma of the Nazi War Criminals
- By: Joel E. Dimsdale
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the ashes had settled after World War II and the Allies convened an international war crimes trial in Nuremberg, a psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley, and a psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, tried to fathom the psychology of the Nazi leaders using extensive psychiatric interviews, IQ tests, and Rorschach inkblot tests. Never before or since has there been such a detailed study of governmental leaders who orchestrated mass killings.
-
-
History Lover
- By Tamara on 03-02-17
By: Joel E. Dimsdale
-
Kill Switch
- The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy
- By: Adam Jentleson
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every major decision governing our diverse, majority-female, and increasingly liberal country bears the stamp of the US Senate, yet the Senate allows an almost exclusively White, predominantly male, and radically conservative minority of the American electorate to impose its will on the rest of us. How did we get to this point? In Kill Switch, Adam Jentleson argues that shifting demographics alone cannot explain how Mitch McConnell harnessed the Senate and turned it into a powerful weapon of minority rule.
-
-
Don't bother, narration intolerable!
- By Joseph on 03-08-21
By: Adam Jentleson
-
Hiding in Plain Sight
- The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America
- By: Sarah Kendzior
- Narrated by: Sarah Kendzior
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Donald Trump’s rise to power is the story of a buried American history - buried because people in power liked it that way. It was visible without being seen, influential without being named, ubiquitous without being overt. Sarah Kendzior’s Hiding in Plain Sight pulls back the veil on a history spanning decades, a history of an American autocrat in the making. In doing so, she reveals how our continual loss of freedom, the rise of consolidated corruption, and the secrets behind a burgeoning autocratic United States have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
-
-
Not as good as she thinks it is
- By Douglas A. Greenberg on 05-01-20
By: Sarah Kendzior
-
The Start
- 1904-1930
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William L. Shirer was a CBS foreign correspondent and renowned author of New York Times best-selling nonfiction about World War II, and this is the first part of his three-part autobiography. A renowned journalist and author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer chronicles his own life story in a personal history that parallels the greater historical events for which he served as a witness.
-
-
Clouds gathering on the horizon in Europe
- By Nancy on 08-12-20
-
The Threat
- How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump
- By: Andrew G. McCabe
- Narrated by: Andrew G. McCabe
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On March 16, 2018, just 26 hours before his scheduled retirement from the organization he had served with distinction for more than two decades, Andrew G. McCabe was fired from his position as deputy director of the FBI. President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy." In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career and an impassioned defense of the FBI.
-
-
The FBI & DOJ
- By Thom Pierson on 02-19-19
By: Andrew G. McCabe
-
Wounded Knee
- Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On December 29, 1890, American troops opened fire with howitzers on hundreds of unarmed Lakota Sioux men, women, and children near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, killing nearly 300 Sioux. As acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson shows in Wounded Knee, the massacre grew out of a set of political forces all too familiar to us today: fierce partisanship, heated political rhetoric, and an irresponsible, profit-driven media.
-
-
sad but important history
- By Margaret Bowser on 04-08-23
-
Ship of Fools
- By: Tucker Carlson
- Narrated by: Tucker Carlson
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The host of Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight offers a blistering critique of the new American ruling class, the elites of both parties, who have taken over the ship of state, leaving the rest of us, the citizen-passengers, to wonder: How do we put the country back on course?
-
-
Read if you want to hear about how ridiculous the ruling elite are
- By Sadie K on 03-02-19
By: Tucker Carlson
-
Twilight of the Elites
- America after Meritocracy
- By: Chris Hayes
- Narrated by: Chris Hayes
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past decade, Americans watched in bafflement and rage as one institution after another - from Wall Street to Congress, the Catholic Church to corporate America, even Major League Baseball - imploded under the weight of corruption and incompetence. In the wake of the Fail Decade, Americans have historically low levels of trust in their institutions; the social contract between ordinary citizens and elites lies in tatters. How did we get here? Christopher Hayes offers a radically novel answer.
-
-
Troubling truths
- By Face on 12-26-12
By: Chris Hayes
-
Powers and Prospects
- Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the nature of democracy to our place in the natural world, from intellectual politics to the politics of language, Powers and Prospects provides a scathing critique of orthodox views and government policy and outlines other paths that can lead to better understanding and more constructive action.
By: Noam Chomsky
-
Everything Trump Touches Dies
- By: Rick Wilson
- Narrated by: Rick Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Everything Trump Touches Dies, political campaign strategist and commentator Rick Wilson brings his darkly funny humor and biting analysis to the absurdity of American politics in the age of Trump. Wilson mercilessly exposes the damage Trump has done to the country, to the Republican Party he served for decades, and to the conservative movement that has abandoned its principles for the worst president in American history. No left-winger, Wilson is a lifelong conservative who delivers his withering critique of Trump from the right.
-
-
Everything Trump Touches Dies is a hard book to review
- By Amanda W. on 08-08-18
By: Rick Wilson
-
The Corrosion of Conservatism
- Why I Left the Right
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Max Boot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warning that the Trump presidency presages America’s decline, Max Boot, the political commentator, recounts his extraordinary journey from lifelong Republican to vehement Trump opponent. As nativism, xenophobia, vile racism, and assaults on the rule of law threaten the very fabric of our nation, The Corrosion of Conservatism presents an urgent defense of American democracy.
-
-
Not an intellectual tour de force!
- By Wayne on 07-14-19
By: Max Boot
-
Righteous Indignation
- Excuse Me While I Save the World
- By: Andrew Breitbart
- Narrated by: Jeremy Guskin
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Known for his network of conservative websites that draws millions of readers everyday, Andrew Breitbart has one main goal: to make sure the "liberally biased" major news outlets in this country cover all aspects of a story fairly. Breitbart is convinced that too many national stories are slanted by the news media in an unfair way. In Righteous Indignation, Breitbart talks about the key issues that Americans face, how he has aligned himself with the Tea Party, and how one needs to deal with the liberal news world head on.
-
-
Please get this book!
- By MacGregor on 07-09-11
By: Andrew Breitbart
What listeners say about Bad Stories
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Taylor Garcia
- 11-18-18
Whatever you do, read this book
Steve Almond gets its. For our nation and our democracy to mature, we must acknowledge our vulnerabilities and minimize our grievances. Let Steve tell you the bad stories that brought us to this fractured state. Let Steve remind you that it’s all within our reach to fix, if we only apply some mercy to ourselves and to our fellow citizens.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lisa E. Wallace-Keith
- 12-11-22
Absolutely everyone should read this
Enlightning and tactful. A must read!
I want to share this with soooo many people.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!