Dark Money ~ Paperback ~ Jane Mayer

The US is one of the largest democracies in the world - or is it? America is experiencing an age of profound economic inequality. Employee protections have been decimated, and state welfare is virtually non-existent, while hedge fund billionaires are grossly under-taxed and big businesses make astounding profits at the expense of the environment and of their workers. How did this come about, and who were the driving forces behind it? In this powerful and meticulously researched work of investigative journalism, New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer exposes the network of billionaires trying to buy the US electoral system - and succeeding. Led by libertarian industrialists the Koch brothers, they believe that taxes are a form of tyranny and that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom. Together, they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars influencing politicians and voters, and hijacking American democracy for their own ends. Dark Money brilliantly illuminates a shady corner of US politics. It is essential reading for anybody interested in the future of democracy.Author BiographyJane Mayer is an award-winning staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three best-selling and critically acclaimed narrative nonfiction books. She co-authored Landslide: the unmaking of the president, 1984-1988, with Doyle McManus, and Strange Justice: the selling of Clarence Thomas, with Jill Abramson, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her book The Dark Side: the inside story of how the war on terror turned into a war on American ideals, for which she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, was named one of The New York Times' Top 10 Books of the Year. For her reporting at The New Yorker, Mayer has also won numerous awards. She lives in Washington, D.C.