Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-08-25
Books mentioned on This Is Why People Hate the Government
In 2024, Americans spent an average of six full workdays a year filling out government forms, according to the government’s own estimates. That’s a total of 12 billion hours, or $430 billion of uncompensated labor a year.
Annie Lowrey recommended My silent war by Kim Philby, To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever by Will Blythe, and Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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My silent war
My Silent War by Kim Philby is the chilling autobiographical account of the notorious British intelligence officer who secretly spied for the Soviet Union as part of the Cambridge Five.
Recommended“And this is a book called My Silent War by Kim Philby.”
Where to get it
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To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever
To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever by Will Blythe is a non-fiction book that explores passionate sports fandom, specifically focusing on the intense rivalries of college basketball in the American South.
Recommended“It is called to hate like this is to be happy forever by Will Bllythe.”
Where to get it
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Gender Trouble
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity is a foundational feminist and queer theory text by Judith Butler that challenges traditional notions of sex, gender, and identity by arguing that gender is performative rather than biological.
Recommended“And then my third hobby horse book, which I think people talk about this book all the time, but I feel like a lot of people have never actually read it, is Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“She's the author of the new book, The Time Tax, [music] which is all about this.”