The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics

Richard Hanania has emerged as one of the most talked-about writers in the nation, and in this book, he puts forward a stunning new theory about the culture war that could turn our debates upside down.

Richard Hanania has come out of nowhere to become one of the best-known writers in the nation in the last few years. In this book, he directs his attention to the culture war that has driven society apart and presents a stunning new theory about what is going on.

In a nation nearly-evenly split between conservatives and liberals, the left dominates nearly all major institutions, including universities, the government, and corporate America. Hanania argues that this is as much a legal requirement as it is an issue of one side triumphing in the marketplace of ideas. Culture has its own independent force, but the state has, since the 1960s, been putting its thumb on the scale. 

This book answers many of the puzzling questions about modern society, such as:

• Why does more and more of life seem like a competition to see who is the most oppressed?

• Who is really behind the sudden proliferation of woke ideas?

• How did ideas that seem so intellectually bankrupt achieve hegemony over elite culture?

• Which laws and regulations have helped the left rise to power everywhere?

• How did workplaces come to be the main enforcers of political ideology?

• When and how did Pakistanis, Samoans, and Koreans all become the same "race" (AAPI)? 

• Why did America become so obsessed with inequalities based on race but not religion? 

For those angry about wokeness and what it has done to American institutions, this book offers concrete suggestions regarding policies that can move us back to being a country that emphasizes merit, individual liberty, and color-blind governance.

Richard Hanania writes a newsletter about American politics, ethics, international relations, and culture. He is the author of Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy and The Origins of Woke. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, The Economist, and other publications. He lives in California.