by Jane Mayer
First published 2016
America faces extreme economic inequality. Workers have lost basic protections. State welfare programs have nearly disappeared. Meanwhile, hedge fund billionaires pay minimal taxes while corporations extract massive profits from damaged environments and exploited employees. Jane Mayer investigates how this transformation occurred and identifies the powerful figures who orchestrated it. The New Yorker staff writer spent years researching a network of ultra-wealthy individuals who systematically purchased influence over American elections. Through careful documentation, Mayer reveals their methods, motivations, and remarkable success in reshaping the political landscape. Her investigation exposes the mechanisms these billionaires use to advance their agenda while remaining largely invisible to the public. The book demonstrates how concentrated wealth translates into political power, fundamentally altering democratic processes. Mayer provides readers with a detailed map of this influence network and shows how it operates behind the scenes of American politics.
Genres: business, american, economics, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: expose, investigative-journalism
Setting: America
Period: 21st-century
464 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday