“Polarization is one of the biggest problems of our time, and I can’t think of a better place to find solutions than Peter Coleman’s brilliant research. Whether you’re trying to navigate a disagreement at your dinner table or build a bridge between divided communities, these pages won’t just change how you think about the causes of conflict—they’ll also open your eyes to new cures. This book is a remarkable combination of scientific insight, practical guidance, and grounded hope.”

—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of THINK AGAIN

"I read a preprint of this remarkable book the week after the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, when so many Americans are asking: How did we get here, and what do we do now? Peter Coleman is among the world’s top experts on conflict resolution, and this book really does show us 'The Way Out.' The book is essential reading for the divisive 2020s. It will be of great help to anyone who wants to reduce or resolve conflicts, not just over politics, but over everything that divides our communities, organizations, and families."

— Jonathan Haidt, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Righteous Mind and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business

“Peter T. Coleman's latest book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization, offers us hope in these most trying times. Based on decades of original research on how people and communities escape deeply divisive conflicts, Coleman weaves together insights from empirical science on peacebuilding with anecdotes from troubled lives to offer us a North Star - and a set of New Rules - for finding our own way out of our current state of American Psychosis.”

— Van Jones, CNN political contributor, the host of the Van Jones Show and The Redemption Project"

“The Way Out offers the most comprehensive and succinct understanding of how polarization dynamics feed and spiral into landscapes of harm and dysfunction in our current American landscape.   And!   With the clarity of empirical evidence and open imagination, these pages equally explore the opportunities available within our divided landscape to engage and transform these dynamics toward far healthier and responsive interaction that reinvigorates our social contract and democracy.  A treasure trove of insight and instruction, this is the best scientific and practical guide I have read about toxic polarization. Peter Coleman’s gift of a book for 2021 and the decades to come could not be better timed or more laser focused for our times.”

— John Paul Lederach, Professor Emeritus at University of Notre Dame and/or Senior Fellow at Humanity United; author of The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace

“Peter T. Coleman has done some of the deepest reading, research and inquiry into the nature of conflicts around the world.  In The Way Out he trains his highly sophisticated eye on the polarized environment that the United States has become. The result is a primer on how to think about addressing polarization that is academic but relatable, creative but deeply researched, and ambitious but grounded in real-life experience of everyday Americans.  This book should be required reading for anyone who cares about the future of this country.” 

—Abigail Disney is a documentary filmmaker, activist, co-founder of Fork Films, and podcast host of "All Ears"

“In The Way Out, Peter Coleman tackles a critically important issue, a topic on everyone’s mind: the emergence of a unique brand of polarization, centered less on policy disputes than on tribal instincts. Not only do we disagree with the other side, but we are convinced that their views are dangerous and that they are a true threat to the nation. Coleman lays out a new perspective regarding the roots of this hyperpolarization in a lively, accessible way, and, most importantly, offers a detailed map out of the quagmire.”

— Daniel M. Shea, author of Why Vote? Essential Questions About the Future of Elections in America

“Conflict is a complex thing: you ask it one question and it gives you one kind of answer; you ask it another and it gives you another. In Peter Coleman’s safe hands, you learn about ways to ask new questions and ways to listen to the answers. For conflicts that divide families, countries, communities, Peter Coleman’s words are filled with insight and wisdom. This isn’t just analysis, though, this is a way out.” 

— Padraig O’ Tuama, Irish Poet, Theologian and Conflict Mediator 

“Coleman's latest is a tour-de-force: eminently readable with compelling stories from the streets of Watertown, MA to the negotiating tables of Northern Ireland, yet replete with frameworks and insights that help Americans understand—and chart a way out of—our polarized national condition. The Way Out is a road map to a more perfect union.”

—Shamil Idriss, Chief Executive Officer of Search for Common Ground

“The Way Out is essential reading for our times. Peter Coleman is our sharpest and most prolific thinker on toxic polarization today, and now more than ever his words must be heeded. This work sounds the alarm on the existential threat of affective polarization infecting our country— and also shows us tangible, realistic and scientifically validated ways out. Peter Coleman is a national treasure. His book should be required reading for anyone touched by the pandemic of toxic polarization wreaking havoc on our country today— which means every one of us.”

—Dave Isay, Founder of StoryCorps

"Here’s what everyone’s looking for: a way out of this mess. Peter T. Coleman tells us how to find it. Read this book to make it happen."

— Timothy Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics International Board of Directors, Co-Founder of Unite.