Defusing American Anger: A depolarization endeavor
About Zachary Elwood
About this newsletter
This newsletter is for people who want to help reduce the toxicity of our us-vs-them divides in America — who want to reduce contemptuous, us-versus-them, team-based ways of thinking, and the more extreme, zero-compromise attitudes that leads to.
My name is Zachary Elwood and I’m the author of two books, Defusing American Anger (for all audiences) and How Contempt Destroys Democracy (for a liberal/anti-Trump audience). I also have a psychology-focused podcast where I sometimes talk about polarization and conflict.
Update February 2026: I won’t be doing much polarization-related writing these days, due to needing to focus on some other things now.
I see what I do as essentially political conflict resolution: helping people better understand the nature of our toxic political divides so that they can approach that conflict in healthier ways that avoid unnecessarily amplifying the conflict. I see this work as aligned with political passion and activism; I think trying to understand how conflict works helps anyone pursue their goals and engage in more persuasive ways.