by Matt Taibbi
First published 2014
Matt Taibbi tackles a puzzling contradiction in American society. Over twenty years, poverty has risen while crime has fallen, yet the prison population has doubled. Meanwhile, financial fraud by the wealthy has destroyed 40 percent of global wealth, the rich have grown vastly richer, and nobody has gone to jail. Taibbi identifies what he calls the Divide, the fault line where mass incarceration and wealth inequality intersect. He argues that a fundamental transformation has occurred in American citizenship. Basic rights now depend on economic status rather than constitutional guarantees. This system allows massive fraud by the hyperwealthy to proceed without consequences while criminalizing poverty itself. The two trends appear unrelated when examined separately, but Taibbi demonstrates their connection. His investigation reveals how justice operates by different rules for different classes, creating a bifurcated system that protects the powerful while punishing the powerless for their circumstances.
Genres: american, political-science, crime, social-issues, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: social-commentary, systemic-injustice
Setting: America, United States
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
416 pages · Hardcover · Spiegel & Grau
Content warnings: racism