Adrift by Scott Galloway

ADRIFT by Scott Galloway attempts to describe America in 100 charts.  Booklist says, “This highly visual distillation of U.S. history will be appreciated by students.” I do think they will gain some insights, but the preview I saw was not especially eye-catching.  Everything is in black and white with shades of grey and fairly simple (mainly line or column chart) depiction of whatever data Galloway is discussing. Also, the analysis for each chart is two to three paragraphs at best although it often includes some attention-grabbing factoid. Somewhat more interesting are the chapter titles and synopsis of each: for example, when looking at the Rise of the Shareholder Class, Galloway asserts, “As the post-war boom began to fizzle out, the U.S. embraced shareholder capitalism and turned from community and institution towards rugged individualism.” Galloway does cite sources near each chart and in the notes (about twenty-five percent of the text) which could serve as a useful introduction to those research sources and offer students an additional opportunity to improve visual and information literacy skills. Another way to employ this text might be to ask students to find a related recent news article. Galloway echoes Robert Putnam when he points to the turning away from community based activities and Pew Research would have recent data, particularly about religion membership (summarized here by Axios). Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, previously authored The Four and has strong views about Big Tech. The charts nearer the end of ADRIFT address this sector and Galloway offers suggestions for action (e.g., reform Section 230; enact a one-time wealth tax) in his final chapter, “What We Must Do.”