Dark Money
how a secretive group of billionaires is trying to buy political control in the US
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Scribe Publications
Published:9th Jun '16
Should be back in stock very soon
A LITHUB BOOK OF THE DECADE.
The US is one of the largest democracies in the world — or is it?
America is experiencing an age of profound economic inequality. Employee protections have been decimated, and state welfare is virtually non-existent, while hedge fund billionaires are grossly under-taxed and big businesses make astounding profits at the expense of the environment and of their workers.
How did this come about, and who were the driving forces behind it?
In this powerful and meticulously researched work of investigative journalism, New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer exposes the network of billionaires trying to buy the US electoral system — and succeeding. Led by libertarian industrialists the Koch brothers, they believe that taxes are a form of tyranny and that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom. Together, they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars influencing politicians and voters, and hijacking American democracy for their own ends.
Dark Money brilliantly illuminates a shady corner of US politics. It is essential reading for anybody interested in the future of democracy.
‘Utterly brilliant and chilling – no matter how much you think you already know … Read it!’
* Naomi Klein author of This Changes Everything *‘Political journalism at its best, an epic and terrifying story that grips the reader like a Stephen King thriller.’
-- A.M. Homes * The Observer *‘Indispensable.’
* The Guardian *‘Persuasive, timely and necessary.’
* The New York Times *‘A terrifying insight into how 21st-century politics works.’
-- George Monbiot * The Guardian *‘A chilling book’ * Times Higher Education *
‘A triumph … Mayer has cut through the secrecy that these men have carefully cultivated … and given the world a full accounting of what had been a shadowy and largely unseen force.’
* New York Review of Books *‘Packed with revelations.’
* San Francisco Chronicle *‘A must-read for those seeking to understand how Washington became a corporatocracy.’
* New Internationalist *‘Meticulously researched and elegantly written.’
-- John Keane * Sydney Morning Herald *The New York Times 'The 10 Best Books of 2016'
The New York Times '100 Notable Books of 2016'
NPR’s ‘Best Books of 2016’
‘Meticulously, fascinatingly and horrifyingly explains how eccentric American billionaires hijaced our democracy.’
-- Curtis Sittenfeld * The Observer *‘Deeply researched and studded with detail … Seems destined to rattle the Koch executive offices in Wichita as other investigations have not.’
* Washington Post *‘With such turmoil on the right wing of American politics, reading Dark Money is like reading the first chapter of what may be a great political page-turner.’
* Chicago Tribune *‘Jane Mayer … is, quite simply, one of the very few utterly invaluable journalists this country has.’
* Esquire *‘Dark Money is almost too good for its own good … [t]he story is so outrageous it should make any citizen want to go out and do something about it.’
* Los Angeles Review of Books *‘[A] comprehensive history … Stunning.’
* Salon *‘Mayer is … a writer whose reporting can leave a reader breathless … I urge you to read Dark Money.’
* Bill Moyers *‘[A]n extraordinarily well-documented account of the influential, interlocking organisations with innocuous names created by the Koch brothers.’
* The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *‘The importance of Dark Money does not flow from any explosive new revelation, but from its scope and perspective … It is not easy to uncover the inner workings of an essentially secretive political establishment. Mayer has come as close to doing it as anyone is likely to come anytime soon.’
-- Alan Ehrenhalt * The New York Times Book Review *‘Dark Money piles up facts and anecdotes to support its central thesis: the evasion by the very rich of any obligation to rise above self-interest and serve the public interest … The billionaires do all the mischief they can, and Jane Mayer, in this brave and resourceful book, has numbered their abuses with admirable pertinacity.’
-- David Bromwich * The Nation *‘Mayer is one of the nation’s best investigative journalists, and she is writing in the muckraking tradition of Ida Tarbell. Readers who believe that money and politics make for a toxic brew will share Mayer’s anger, which animates every page of Dark Money.’
* Washington Independent Review of Boo- Short-listed for LA Times Book Prize 2017 (United States)
- Short-listed for PEN/Jean Stein Book Award 2017 (United States)
- Short-listed for J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize 2017 (United States)
- Short-listed for National Book Critics Circle Award 2016 (United States)
- Long-listed for Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Nonfiction 2016
ISBN: 9781925228847
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 32mm
Weight: unknown
480 pages