Winners take all the elite charade of changing the world

Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can -- except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it. We see how they rebrand themselves as saviors...

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Main Author: Giridharadas, Anand (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.
Edition: First edition.
Subjects:
Summary: Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can -- except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it. We see how they rebrand themselves as saviors of the poor; how they lavishly reward "thought leaders" who redefine "change" in winner-friendly ways; and how they constantly seek to do more good, but never less harm. We hear the limousine confessions of a celebrated foundation boss; witness an American president hem and haw about his plutocratic benefactors; and attend a cruise-ship conference where entrepreneurs celebrate their own self-interested magnanimity. Giridharadas asks hard questions: Why, for example, should our gravest problems be solved by the unelected upper crust instead of the public institutions it erodes by lobbying and dodging taxes? He also points toward an answer: Rather than rely on scraps from the winners, we must take on the grueling democratic work of building more robust, egalitarian institutions and truly changing the world. A call to action for elites and everyday citizens alike.
Item Description: "A Borzoi book."
Physical Description: 288 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-276) and index.
ISBN: 9780451493248
0451493249
Author Notes: Anand Giridharadas is a writer, teacher, political analyst, and speaker, based in Brooklyn, New York. His career includes foreign correspondent and columnist for The New York Times (2005-2016), has written for The Atlantic, The New Republic, and The New Yorker, an Aspen Institute fellow, on-air political analyst for MSNBC, former McKinsey analyst, and teaches journalism at New York University. He is the author of The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking, and Winner Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.

(Bowker Author Biography)