“If you study American politics or political behavior, you should absolutely read Taylor Carlson’s recent book about information, interpersonal communication, and democratic functioning in the United States…Carlson’s major move and contribution lie with her focus on the content of the information moving between the actively informed and the casually informed parts of the public, and on the consequences that these changes have on public opinion and action…Carlson’s work is impressive, rigorous, and convincing.”

Perspectives on Politics

“Through the Grapevine is an impressive blend of work on political communication and social networks that will interest scholars in both research areas. The book’s theoretical and empirical breadth is a real strength. The central argument about how social transmission changes media effects can be usefully applied to both in-person and digital communication…Carlson’s book should motivate more research at the intersection of political communication and social networks. It makes an important contribution in showing that socially transmitted information is fundamentally different from the news that inspires it. How different? It depends who you talk to."

Public Opinion Quarterly

"Many citizens learn about politics through conversations with their friends and family. Such engagement can come with a steep cost. In this terrific and meticulously researched book, Carlson argues that interpersonal conversations about politics may do more harm than good. As citizens discuss what they read or hear in media reports, the actual information transmitted through conversation degrades and becomes more partisan in character, more negative in tone, and less accurate in nature."

Adam J. Berinsky | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Through the Grapevine is one of the most important books written on public opinion formation in some time. Carlson convincingly argues that as an engaged public discusses politics via word-of-mouth, they distort it, make it less accurate, and more polarizing. This turns decades of conventional wisdom about the role that informed news consumers play in a democracy on its head and sheds light on how most Americans form their political opinions.”

Kevin Arceneaux | author of "Changing Minds or Changing Channels?"