Dark Money

The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

De: Jane Mayer

Narrado por: Kirsten Potter

Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers?
The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against “big government” led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system.
The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs—that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom—are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws.
The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights.
When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible “philanthropy.”
These organizations were given innocuous names such as Americans for Prosperity. Funding sources were hidden whenever possible. This process reached its apotheosis with the allegedly populist Tea Party movement, abetted mightily by the Citizens United decision—a case conceived of by legal advocates funded by the network.
The political operatives the network employs are disciplined, smart, and at times ruthless. Mayer documents instances in which people affiliated with these groups hired private detectives to impugn whistle-blowers, journalists, and even government investigators. And their efforts have been remarkably successful. Libertarian views on taxes and regulation, once far outside the mainstream and still rejected by most Americans, are ascendant in the majority of state governments, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Meaningful environmental, labor, finance, and tax reforms have been stymied.
Jane Mayer spent five years conducting hundreds of interviews-including with several sources within the network-and scoured public records, private papers, and court proceedings in reporting this book. In a taut and utterly convincing narrative, she traces the byzantine trail of the billions of dollars spent by the network and provides vivid portraits of the colorful figures behind the new American oligarchy.
Dark Money is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.

Reseñas de la Crítica

ONE OF NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2016

A Washington Post Notable Book of 2016

"Mayer is. . . a writer whose reporting can leave a reader breathless. . . . I urge you to read Dark Money."
—Bill Moyers

"Jane Mayer's Dark Money is utterly brilliant and chilling — no matter how much you think you already know. . . . Read it!"
—Naomi Klein, bestselling author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate

“Jane Mayer’s Dark Money. . . is absolutely necessary reading for anyone who wants to make sense of our politics. Lay aside the endless punditry about Donald’s belligerence or Hillary’s ambition; Mayer is telling the epic story of America in our time. It is a triumph of investigative reporting, perhaps not surprising for a journalist who has won most of the awards her profession has to offer.... She’s a pro, and she’s given the world a full accounting of what had been a shadowy and largely unseen force. . . . Remarkable.”
—The New York Review of Books

"The book is written in straightforward and largely unemotional prose, but it reads as if conceived in quiet anger. Mayer believes that the Koch brothers and a small number of allied plutocrats have essentially hijacked American democracy, using their money not just to compete with their political adversaries, but to drown them out. . . . Dark Money emerges as an impressively reported and well-documented work. . . . The importance of Dark Money [flows] from its scope and perspective. . . . It is not easy to uncover the inner workings of an essentially secretive political establishment. Mayer has come as close to doing it as anyone is likely to come anytime soon. . . . She makes a formidable argument.”
­—From the cover of the New York Times Book Review

“Revelatory. . .persuasive, timely and necessary. . . . Only the most thoroughly documented, compendious account could do justice to the Kochs’ bizarre and Byzantine family history and the scale and scope of their influence.”
­—The New York Times

A must read!

It takes some effort to get through. Not because it's too detailed or dry, but it's hard to overcome the urge to punch things, rant on public media and write viscous letters to representatives. The American people are truly screwed if we don't wake up to the bullies who stole elections.

Terrifying

The research was well done, and the narrator was soothing considering the history she was discussing. I enjoyed it, but it also opened my eyes to a side of politics I had not considered before.

Scary

Truly scary book but a story we all need to know. good narrator and Mayer puts out another solid book.

The truth about how politics is run by the super r

What did you like best about this story?

I knew bits and pieces about this before, but this gave me the whole picture in an excellent way. Too sad that the facts revealed in the book are, and will remain, unknown to the majority of the American population. Money always rules - unfortunately.

Well Researched, Beautifully Presented

An incredibly well researched documentary on the dizzying array of organizations that direct huge amounts of money to game the political system by the far right. Depressing, but essential to understanding what is happening in government today.

phenomenal insight.

regardless of your political leaning, it's important to know why the political climate is the way it is today. this book sets that stage in a very detailed and insightful way.

Read this, and be forever changed and enlightened

Thank God for Jane Mayer, who went through even personal abuse to get this story told. I had no idea how much big money influences politics. Yes, it probably always has, but what is happening today is mind-boggling in its power over politics. This is a prime example of how studious journalism can help us understand what is really going on. Only old-fashioned ethics can help us now. Will that ever reign in America again? I leave this question unanswered. Maybe our great-grandchildren will have the opportunity to still read Jane Mayer's book, and will shake their heads in wonder over how polluted politics got back then. I can only hope. One point about the narration: The narrator sometimes showed, through her voice, her disgust with the Kochs or other unethical power broker. I would have preferred an all-neutral voice. The content was enough on its own to bring out the disgust.

Must read - but so depressing

If you could sum up Dark Money in three words, what would they be?

The story of behind-the-scenes plotting to make the government ineffectual by taking over academic and political institutions is totally relevant in today's cultural climate. Mayer traces the path of denying climate change, attempting to upend universal health care and several other critical programs and trends of social awareness. However, knowing how little control we, the people, have to oppose big money issues is truly frightening.
This book should be required reading at all colleges.

Facinating Book

If you vote and follow American politics and don't read this, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Of course this information will never be told to you but CNN, Fox News or any other faux news channels out there, so this is the book to get yourself informed about how things really work. The Koch Bros. and their ilk have built a hugely successful political machine that tilts the game in their favor. They prey largely on, poor to middle class, uninformed, easily manipulated, white Christian (and at least, slightly racist) citizens to do their bidding by using massive misinformation campaigns and phrases such as "freedom" "liberty" "patriots" "get our country back" to get them to vote against their own interest. The ultimate goal of these conservative ultra rich donors of the Super PACs is to pay workers less by busting unions, get rid of government agencies like the EPA so they can dump their toxic waste, challenge global warming science so they can continue polluting, and pay less taxes so they can keep more of their billions. If your goal as a voter is to make billionaires wealthier, then by all means, believe the ads pumped out by these conservative Super PACs, they wouldn't lie would they?

Democracy is on life support

if you don't know about the Koch brothers and what they have set out to do the very fabric of our government and society, be prepared to get shocked by what you learn from this book