Dark Money: how a secretive group of billionaires is trying to buy political control in the US

New
Paperback
2016
$13.31

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.

Synopsis

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.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 480
Publisher: Scribe UK
Published: 09 Jun 2016
ISBN 10: 1925228843
ISBN 13: 9781925228847

Media Reviews

'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 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'

Author Bio

Jane Mayer is an award-winning staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three best-selling and critically acclaimed narrative nonfiction books. She co-authored Landslide: the unmaking of the president, 1984-1988, with Doyle McManus, and Strange Justice: the selling of Clarence Thomas, with Jill Abramson, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her book The Dark Side: the inside story of how the war on terror turned into a war on American ideals, for which she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, was named one of The New York Times' Top 10 Books of the Year. For her reporting at The New Yorker, Mayer has also won numerous awards. She lives in Washington, D.C.