Sep 19, 2018
An insider's groundbreaking investigation of how the
global elite's efforts to "change the world" preserve the status
quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek
to solve.
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.