Dark Money

Like many, I lament our political polarization and growing income (and influence) inequality. I thought I understood how money corrupts our government. Still, Jane Mayer, a staff writer for The New Yorker, offers a revelatory and persuasive history of billionaires bankrolling political changes that advance their interests … and harm ours.

With engaging profiles and insightful data, she stoked my anger and protest. 

It’s quite a trick to overthrow a government without firing a shot. It’s an even better trick to do it without most people noticing what you’ve done. Dark Money shows how a cadre of American oligarchs, who believed the US had gone too far in reining in people like them, poured barrels of cash into undermining the average American’s economic, labor, and civil rights progress. They created think tanks. They bankrolled TV pundits. They funded departments at top universities—and micro-managed the curriculum—intent on influencing new generations of politicians, economists, and judges. In the end, they completely reshaped American thought and… show more.