New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter examines how and why Americans have come to mistrust institutions, especially the institution of science. For centuries, the general view of science was that it is neither good nor bad, but it merely supplies information. In Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives, he looks into why science has come to be viewed as a political constituency that’s not always in our best interest.