Malcolm Gladwell announces 'The American Way of Killing', a new book exploring the nation's gun epidemic
In The American Way of Killing (out September 29, 2026) Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times bestsellers including Revenge of the Tipping Point and Talking to Strangers and host of the award-winning podcast Revisionist History, gets to the heart of America’s gun violence crisis: Where did America’s violence problem come from? And why has it proven so difficult to address?
From The Tipping Point to Blink to his podcast episodes, Gladwell has returned again and again to the topics of crime, policing, and punishment. In The American Way of Killing, he expands on his reporting, originally featured in a series of Revisionist History episodes, with new interviews and research.
The American Way of Killing is an argument for looking in unexpected places when trying to understand the American problem of lethal violence. Gladwell explores the profound absurdity of the way the nation handles gun violence through a series of stories — the miracle of a young gunshot victim in Washington D.C., the legal travails of a 17th century English knight, a professor in Alabama with a terrible secret, and a prison in Germany that would be unrecognizable to any American, among others.
The American Way of Killing will be available in audio, print, and eBook, on September 29, 2026. Narrated by the author, the audiobook will feature Gladwell’s trademark audio-first production quality, complete with original reporting and interviews, archival tape, sound design, and more. The audio edition will be produced by Pushkin Industries and published by RBmedia, with the print edition to be published by Little, Brown and Company. Preorder the audiobook here and the print edition here.
“At Pushkin, we approach publishing as a strategic design process,” said Nicole Op den Bosch, SVP & Publisher at Pushkin Industries. “The American Way of Killing is the result of intentional, cross-format thinking, and our partnership with RBmedia and Little, Brown reflects a shared commitment to the craft of storytelling in both audio and print.”
You can pre-order the ebook today, and help Podnews’s journalism
About Pushkin Industries
Pushkin Industries is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners, encourages their curiosity, and inspires joy. Or, in other words: Good, Smart, Fun. Founded in 2018, Pushkin has produced numerous podcasts that have broken into the top 10 on the Apple Podcasts chart, including Malcolm Gladwell’s hugely successful Revisionist History, as well as Against the Rules from Michael Lewis, Paul McCartney’s A Life in Lyrics, The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, Broken Record, Tim Harford’s Cautionary Tales, The Last Archive, Deep Cover, Lost Hills, and Apple’s Best Show of 2021: A Slight Change of Plans. Pushkin’s audiobook catalog includes Steve Martin’s So Many Steves, Inside Voice by Lake Bell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen, Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis, Fauci and Higher Animals by Michael Specter, Heartbreak by Florence Williams, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon, and _The Bomber Mafia._Follow us @pushkinpods.
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