David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell

Little, Brown, Oct 1, 2013 - Psychology - 320 pages

Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia.

Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won.

Or should he have?

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwellchallenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.

Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland's Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms—all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity.

In the tradition of Gladwell's previous bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw—David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Castlelass - LibraryThing

Malcolm Gladwell provides insight into why underdogs are often successful against a more powerful opponent. As is typical in his books, he takes the contrarian position, arguing that these so-called ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - hardlyhardy - LibraryThing

When a boy named David slew a giant named Goliath, it was not the oddity we might think it was. So says Malcolm Gladwell in his book “David and Goliath” (2013). It happens all the time. The underdog ...

About the author

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers: The Tipping Point,Blink, Outliers,What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the Time 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy'sTop Global Thinkers.

Bibliographic information

• Title: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
• Author: Malcolm Gladwell
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Little, Brown, 2013
• ISBN: 0316204382, 9780316204385
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Motivational; Psychology / Social Psychology; Self-Help / Personal Growth / Success; Social Science / Sociology / Social Theory