• Who Stole the American Dream?

  • By: Hedrick Smith
  • Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
  • Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (143 ratings)

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Who Stole the American Dream?  By  cover art

Who Stole the American Dream?

By: Hedrick Smith
Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
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Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s new book is an extraordinary achievement, an eye-opening account of how, over the past four decades, the American Dream has been dismantled and we became two Americas.

In his best-selling The Russians, Smith took millions of readers inside the Soviet Union. In The Power Game, he took us inside Washington’s corridors of power. Now Smith takes us across America to show how seismic changes, sparked by a sequence of landmark political and economic decisions, have transformed America. As only a veteran reporter can, Smith fits the puzzle together, starting with Lewis Powell’s provocative memo that triggered a political rebellion that dramatically altered the landscape of power from then until today.

This is a book full of surprises and revelations - the accidental beginnings of the 401(k) plan, with disastrous economic consequences for many; the major policy changes that began under Jimmy Carter; how the New Economy disrupted America’s engine of shared prosperity, the "virtuous circle" of growth, and how America lost the title of "Land of Opportunity". Smith documents the transfer of $6 trillion in middle-class wealth from homeowners to banks even before the housing boom went bust, and how the U.S. policy tilt favoring the rich is stunting America’s economic growth.

This book is essential reading for all of us who want to understand America today, or why average Americans are struggling to keep afloat. Smith reveals how pivotal laws and policies were altered while the public wasn’t looking, how Congress often ignores public opinion, why moderate politicians got shoved to the sidelines, and how Wall Street often wins politically by hiring over 1,400 former government officials as lobbyists.

©2012 Hendrick Smith; 2012 Random House Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America's contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Smith.... Smith sets out on a mission to trace the history of these strategies and policies, which transformed America from a roughly fair society to its current status as a plutocracy. He leaves few stones unturned.... [F]ascinating detail...brilliant analyses." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"Hedrick Smith is a clear thinker and a great writer who has done a terrific job chronicling the increasing disarray in the once powerful social compact between America's middle class and our business and political leadership. Smith also presents an American 'Marshall Plan' which is a solid road map for recovery from the results of failed business, media, and political leadership of the last 30 years." (Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, former DNC Chairman)
"Here now is the terrible story of how the so-called New Economy destroyed the many credos and practices that once pushed and prodded the American way of life. Hedrick Smith gives names, dates, and actions behind the transformation from a corporate and financial culture driven by shared wealth to one of CEO/ownership greed. Read it and weep with profound sadness and then scream with red-faced anger. It seems almost too tame to call it simply a book. It is an indictment that is as stinging, stunning and important as any ever handed down by a grand jury." (Jim Lehrer)

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