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At a moment when we are facing an epidemic of incivility and hate - with divisive political speech, online trolling, and hate crimes escalating - popular CNN commentator Sally Kohn sets out to discover why we hate and how can stop it. As a progressive commentator on Fox News and now CNN, Sally Kohn has made a career out of bridging intractable political differences, learning how to talk civilly to people whose views she disagrees with passionately. Famously "nice," she even gave a TED Talk about what she termed emotional correctness. But these days, even Kohn has found herself wanting to breathe fire at her enemies. It was time, she decided, to look into the ugliness erupting all around us. In The Opposite of Hate, Kohn talks to leading scientists and researchers, investigating the evolutionary and cultural roots of hate and how simple incivility can be a gateway to much worse. She travels to Rwanda, to the Middle East, and across the United States, introducing us to terrorists, white supremacists, and even some of her own Twitter trolls, drawing surprising lessons from these dramatic examples - including inspiring stories of those who left hate behind. As Kohn boldly confronts her own shameful moments, whether it's the girl she bullied as a child or her own deep partisan resentment, she points the way toward change. No one is more poised to lead us out of this wilderness of hate than Sally Kohn. Her engaging, fascinating, and often funny book will open your eyes and your heart.
About the Author
Sally Kohn is one of the leading progressive voices in America today. The author of THE OPPOSITE OF HATE and host of STATE OF RESISTANCE podcast, Sally is a CNN political commentator and columnist. Sally's writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, New York Magazine, More Magazine, RollingStone.com, Elle.com, USA Today, Time, Afar Magazine and many other outlets. She's also a popular keynote speaker and frequently leads media and speaking skills workshops for grassroots activists and corporate leaders.
Previously, Sally spent 15 years as a community organizer. She served as Senior Campaign Strategist with the Center for Community Change, a 45-year-old hub of grassroots organizations nationwide. Sally served as co-director of ideas and innovation for the Center, helping lead the pioneering Campaign for Community Values, producing a nationally televised Presidential candidate forum in 2008, developing a new media organizing project on health care reform in rural communities and spearheading several other initiatives.
Before that, Sally held a program fellowship at the Ford Foundation, was a strategic advisor to the Social Justice Infrastructure Funders - a private network of 25 top program staff from some of the nation's most prominent foundations, and served as Executive Director of the Third Wave Foundation, the leading young women's organization in the country. She was also a distinguished Vaid Fellow at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, where she published a groundbreaking guidebook for organizing campaigns to win domestic partnership benefits. Sally also worked as a consultant with the Urban Justice Center, publishing a report on the experiences of gay youth in the New York juvenile justice system.
Sally received a joint degree in law and public administration from New York University and was a Root Tilden public service scholar at the New York University School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree from George Washington University in D.C. Originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, Sally now resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner Sarah Hansen and their daughter Willa.
