The Gist

The Many Theories of Malcolm Gladwell

How does Gladwell justify a character profile, explain a historical oversight, or spice up a story? He hangs a theory on it.

Malcolm Gladwell

Courtesy of Malcolm Gladwell

Listen to Episode 811 of Slate’s The Gist:

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Malcolm Gladwell’s hit podcast Revisionist History spits out neat, distilled theories in every episode. Some of them are careful, others are reductive. But Gladwell says his theories aren’t all meant to be airtight: They just help him organize his stories, or merely spruce them up. “In some of them I’m trying to make a very, very serious, moral point. Sometimes I’m just—I’m making intellectual mischief.”

In the Spiel: the parallels between the Obama administration and the Trump administration on race relations.

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