First published 2017
Elizabeth Warren argues that America's middle class faces an existential threat after decades of systematic dismantling. The Massachusetts Senator traces how Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal created widespread prosperity in the mid-20th century, then shows how Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics reversed that progress in the 1980s. Warren draws on her Oklahoma childhood, where her parents struggled at the edge of the middle class, to illustrate how educational opportunities once lifted working families. She contrasts that era with today's reality, where similar paths to advancement have vanished. The book exposes how government policy shifted from protecting working families to serving wealthy interests. Warren documents her Senate fights against this system and shares stories of Americans who suffer under current policies. She presents Donald Trump's presidency as the culmination of this betrayal, describing him as a fraud who promised to challenge special interests but instead empowered billionaires and lobbyists. The book serves as both historical analysis and battle cry, calling readers to join Warren's fight to restore a government that works for ordinary people rather than the powerful elite.
Genres: history, business, american, economics, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: battle-cry, call-to-action, historical-analysis
Setting: Massachusetts, Oklahoma
Period: Mid-20th Century, 1980s
352 pages · Hardcover · Metropolitan Books