Book · 2025 · Political Science
Why Nothing Works
Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
- mentions
- 4
- people
- 2
- podcasts
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- episodes
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Mark Douglman, thank you so much for talking to me. I genuinely really enjoyed the book. It is called why nothing works, who killed progress and how to bring it back.
The best things said about it
Uh the second one is Mark Dunkelman's why nothing works where he puts everything in a bigger historical context a swing between uh Jeffersonianism where power is pushed down as far as possible to the people and a Hamiltonian vision where the government itself is the engine of change.
Why people recommend it
Why Nothing Works by Marc J. Dunkelman is an examination of the historical swings in American governance, contrasting decentralized populist traditions with top-down administrative statebuilding. Francis Fukuyama recommended the book on The Ezra Klein Show, praising the author for placing modern bureaucratic paralysis within a broader historical context that alternates between a Jeffersonian push for localized power and a Hamiltonian vision centered on governmental agency. Jon Lovett similarly welcomed the author on Pod Save America, expressing deep admiration for the text and discussing the structural impediments facing progressive governance and political power. Throughout the interviews and commentary, the speakers emphasized how the book diagnoses the modern inability of institutions to deliver results, tracing this systemic dysfunction back to fundamental tensions embedded in the American political experiment. The commentators underscored the book's value in explaining why contemporary citizens feel alienated from public institutions and how policymakers might begin to restore effective governance by understanding these recurring historical pendulum swings.
Every mention
Jon Lovett Mark Douglman, thank you so much for talking to me. I genuinely really enjoyed the book. It is called why n… 3
“I spoke to Mark Dunkelman. He wrote a book called Why Nothing Works.”
“So, I'm a huge fan of your book uh Why Nothing Works.”
“Mark Douglman, thank you so much for talking to me. I genuinely really enjoyed the book. It is called why nothing works, who killed progress and how to bring it back.”
Francis Fukuyama Uh the second one is Mark Dunkelman's why nothing works where he puts everything in a bigger historical con… 1
“Uh the second one is Mark Dunkelman's why nothing works where he puts everything in a bigger historical context a swing between uh Jeffersonianism where power is pushed down as far as possible to the people and a Hamiltonian vision where the government itself is the engine of change.”
