GOOD REASONABLE PEOPLE is the title of a recent text by Keith Payne, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He looks specifically at "The Psychology Behind America's Dangerous Divide," something which many of us are trying desperately to understand. In fact, Payne writes that "other people we thought we knew don't just disagree with us; They see the world in a deeply different way than we do." In attempting to answer why that it so, he explores ideas around how people think about politics, what influences political worldviews, and how hard it is to communicate about all of this. He writes movingly that "my research suggests that our political tribes are primarily the result not of our inner essences, but of our circumstances" and that his text is about "understanding our own minds, our own circumstances, and our own blind spots as much as understanding those of other people." Kirkus describes GOOD REASONABLE PEOPLE as "Compelling, eye-opening research that humanizes political discord and encourages understanding and compassion." It has a hopeful, though somewhat academic, tone and notes comprise slightly less than fifteen percent of this thought-provoking book.

The premise of this book is that the division we're experiencing in the U.S. comes down to each side feeling that the other is bad because they don't believe the same things. Keith Payne says that everyone believes they are good people and the answer to ending the acrimony is to keep this in mind.

Of course people feel that what they believe and how they behave are on the side of good, Or at least I'd like to think so. He says that people feel they are good and reasonable and the people they surround themselves are good and reasonable, too.

The problem is that just because someone believes something doesn't make it true. Some people actively work to other people's detriment. Some people believe that other people should not even exist. Some people believe that not everyone deserves human or civil rights. That is neither good nor reasonable.

I wonder if any of the "good, reasonable people" will read this book and come away thinking better of the people they don't like. I don't know if I can do it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.