New Book: Bill Adair

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Bill Adair, Pulitzer Prize winner, Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy, and founder of PolitiFact, presents an eye-opening and engaging history of political liars and a vision for how to make them stop.

A seasoned political reporter, Adair brings unmatched experience to political fact-checking. His current leadership of Duke's Reporter's Lab (part of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy) allows him to investigate political falsehoods in detail, resulting in a book that illuminates one of the biggest crises of our time. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Bill Adair knows a lie when he hears one. Since 2008, the site he founded, PolitiFact, has been the go-to spot for media members and political observers alike to seek the truth in an increasingly deceitful world. Since the site’s launch, politics’ tenuous relationship with the truth has only gotten weaker—and weirder.

In this groundbreaking book, Adair reveals how politicians lie and why. Relying on dozens of candid interviews with politicians, political operatives, and experts in misinformation, Adair reveals the patterns of lying, why Republicans do it more, and the consequences for our democracy. He goes behind the scenes to describe several episodes that reveal the motivations and tactics of the nation’s political liars, show the impact they have on people’s lives, and demonstrate how the problem began before Donald Trump and will continue after he’s gone. Adair examines how Republicans have tried to change the landscape to allow their lying by intimidating the news media, people in academia and government, and tech companies.

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An award-winning journalist and pioneer in political fact-checking, Adair is uniquely able to tell this story. With humor and insight, this remarkable book unpacks the sad state of our politics, but also, provides solutions to put an end to American political deceit once and for all.

"Beyond the Big Lie" in the media:

• The Daily Show: Bill Adair - “Beyond the Big Lie”
• NPR: PolitiFact founder says both parties need factchecking. But they don’t lie equally
• NBC's Morning Joe: 'Beyond the Big Lie' explores why Republicans lie more and the consequences lying has
• The Washington Post: Opinion | Lies, liars and lying threaten democracy — and lives
• WRAL News: The future of fact-checking & how people can combat misinformation

Read an excerpt from "Beyond the Big Lie" 

The Atlantic: Why Politicians Lie

Buy the book

Simon & Schuster (simonandschuster.com)