Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering

Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand-new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light.

Why is Miami…Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in twenty-five years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena.
 
Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath, Talking to Strangers, and The Bomber Mafia. He is also the cofounder of Pushkin Industries, an audio-content company that produces Revisionist History, among other podcasts and audiobooks. He was born in England, raised in Canada, and lives outside New York with his family and a cat named Biggie Smalls.

ISBN: 9780316575805
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: October 01, 2024

“The long-awaited follow-up to The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking 2000 debut, explores the watershed moments that define this new age of societal upheaval…with curiosity and humor.”—Shannon Carlin, TIME Magazine“In Revenge of the Tipping Point, splashy theories abound, as they do in Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History… He turns the conceit [of The Tipping Point] on its head, examining the forces that drive negative epidemics, which to him felt more attuned to our present moment.”—Emma Goldberg, New York Times“Rigorously researched—but always with a witty flair—it’s a must-read for longtime Gladwell fans or readers simply curious about the quiet, surprising origin stories of the crises and questions that define contemporary life.”
—Francesca Billington, Oprah Daily“Brimming with fun and insightful anecdotes…Revenge of the Tipping Point will leave you pondering Gladwell’s theories and asking more questions…The book explores how individuals can use power and influence to shape…the collective narratives we tell ourselves as groups or as a society — and in so doing steward policies and perspectives.”—Alex Tapscott, New York Post"To his adept synthesis of academic research he adds journalistic curiosity, a crisp prose style and a mastery of counter-intuitive juxtapositions. Often beginning with a conundrum, he seeks out case studies and concepts that illuminate it, altering (slightly or radically) our understanding of the world."
—Julia M. Klein, Los Angeles Times“Gladwell is a great storyteller and writes with a contagious sense of curiosity, with each revelation seeming as exciting to him as it is to readers…Revenge of the Tipping Point provides an opportunity to assess his success and his critics’ arguments.”—Economist“An astute and bracing appraisal of how cultures succeed or fail...Gladwell deftly demonstrates how attention to statistics and data points can shape a business, school, or community."—Booklist“Thoughtful, carefully written...Refining and deepening his and our understanding of the spread of customs, mores, and practices, Gladwell emphasizes those overstories, illustrating them with twisting and turning tales.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)