Cover for a book aimed at reducing American political anger

Defusing American anger: A guide to understanding our fellow citizens and reducing our us-versus-them divides

Zachary Elwood

[Note: Don't worry about the photo of me; I don't want that on there.]

Very rough, will change later, but: America is in trouble. We are, as they say, highly polarized. We don't just disagree on the issues; we are increasingly disgusted and angry with each other. We increasingly see "the other side" as moral failures and monsters. And our immense anger feeds into the stances we take on issues, making us more extreme and hardened and less willing to negotiate. And there's a chance our problems will get significantly worse before they get better. To avoid worst case outcomes, we have to be willing to collectively think more about and work towards solutions. This book examines the roots of our anger, showing that many of our reasons for being disgusted with "the other side" are based on distorted views and misperceptions. The more Americans can understand each other and see how most of us are not the monsters we often imagine in our minds, the less angry we'll be, the more we'll be able to accomplish, and the happier we'll all be.

Americans. People interested in politics. People interested in healing our divides.

Paperback

I'm open to ideas, but here are two major potential ones: 1. an image combining a bomb & fuse, and either an American map or an American flag, with maybe hands attempting to defuse the bomb. The wires could be red and blue. Something along those lines. Something that communicates quickly: America is about to blow and we need to defuse it. 2. something reminiscent of military/government-issue manual covers, very practical and minimal, that communicates: use this in case of emergency. One idea I had was some sort of tactical-looking diagram that resembled a bomb-defusing diagram but that showed icons of people with angry faces and lines, something to imply: in this book you'll learn how to defuse the anger of large crowds. No matter what, the main title (Defusing American Anger) should be quite easy to read at a distance and thus easy to read on Amazon thumbnail.

Ideally, I think the design wouldn't be too complex/complicated/busy and would be easy to parse at a distance. So simpler might be better.

Every design category has flexible pricing for all budgets. Book cover starts at NOK 2,599.