Author Glynn Young reviews The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri, which speaks to the crumbling of some of our institutions and public trust. We cannot be everywhere, so we must trust those who represent us or our values to report to us what has occurred. If the day comes when we cannot trust anyone to tell us the truth about important matters, we will not be able to carry on as citizens.

Gurri’s book was first published in 2014 and updated in 2018. He isn’t talking about the events of this month or last summer.

“No,” Young explains, “the public is us, the people who read books, manage businesses, plow farms, drive trucks, work in hospitals, teach, sell cars, run factories, belong to and lead unions, and do a million other jobs. The age of information has taught us to mistrust authority, seek people of like minds in echo chambers, and increasingly think of opposing views as those of the enemy.”