The Sirens' Call by Chris Hayes

The Sirens' Call

Available Now

“An ambitious analysis of how the trivial amusements offered by online life have degraded not only our selves but also our politics.” —New York Times

“Brilliant book… Reading it has made me change the way I work and think.” —Rachel Maddow

From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered...

The Sirens' Call by Chris Hayes, Chris Hayes

Listen to a clip from the audiobook,
read by author Chris Hayes.

Meet Chris Hayes on Tour

Jan 29 2025 (Wed)
Washington DC
Sixth & I
7:00 PM EST
Jan 31 2025 (Fri)
Boston, MA
Harvard Bookstore @ First Parish
7:00 PM EST
Feb 1 2025 (Sat)
New York, NY
Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center
7:30 PM EST
Feb 3 2025 (Mon)
Palo Alto, CA
Commonwealth Club @ Cubberley Theatre
12:00 PM PST
Feb 3 2025 (Mon)
San Francisco, CA
Book Passage @ Calvary Presbyterian
7:00 PM PST
Feb 4 2025 (Tue)
Seattle, WA
Town Hall
7:30 PM PST
Feb 5 2025 (Wed)
San Diego, CA
Talking San Diego
7:00 PM PST
Feb 6 2025 (Thu)
Los Angeles, CA
Writers Bloc @ Writers Guild Theater
7:30 PM PST
Feb 10 2025 (Mon)
Brooklyn, NY
Greenlight Bookstore @ St. Joseph's University
7:30 PM EST
Feb 15 2025 (Sat)
Kingston, NY
Oblong Books @ Bardavon
8:00 PM EST
Feb 17 2025 (Mon)
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures @ Carnegie Music Hall
7:30 PM EST
Feb 24 2025 (Mon)
Houston, TX
The Progressive Forum @ Congregation Emanu El
7:30 PM CST
Mar 3 2025 (Mon)
Philadelphia, PA
Free Library of Philadelphia
7:00 PM EST
Mar 17 2025 (Mon)
Chicago, IL
Chicago Humanities & Athenaeum Center
7:00 PM CST

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

The Sirens' Call

Let us begin with a story from Odysseus's journey. In book twelve of the Odyssey, our hero is about to depart the island of the goddess Circe when she gives him some crucial advice about how to navigate the perils of the next leg of his voyage.

"Pay attention," she instructs him sternly:

First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them.

Odysseus listens as Circe provides him with a plan: stuff wax in the ears of your crew, she says, so they cannot hear the Sirens, and have them bind you to the mast of the ship until you have sailed safely past.

Odysseus follows the plan to a tee. Sure enough, when the Sirens' song hits his ears, he motions to his men to loosen him so that he can follow it....

Excerpted from The Sirens' Call by Chris Hayes. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Chris Hayes author photo

Photo: © MSNBC

Chris Hayes

Chris Hayes is the Emmy Award–winning host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and the New York Times bestselling author of A Colony in a Nation and Twilight of the Elites. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and children.
Back to top