Who Is Government?

The Untold Story of Public Service

De: Michael Lewis

Narrado por: Michael Lewis, Sarah Vowell, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, W. Kamau Bell

“Perhaps never before has there been a book better timed or more urgent.”—Washington Post

“Michael Lewis has this incredible ability to zoom in on one person's story, and from there reveals something much bigger about our culture. His books leave you seeing the world differently, and his books about federal workers are no exception.”—Katie Couric

As seen on CBS Mornings, CNN Anderson Cooper, ABC News Live, MSNBC Morning Joe, and many more

Who works for the government and why does their work matter? An urgent and absorbing civics lesson from an all-star team of writers and storytellers.

The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It’s also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it’s made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone.

Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers, including Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell, to join him in finding someone doing an interesting job for the government and writing about them. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees.

Whether they’re digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit. Expanding on the Washington Post series, the vivid profiles in Who Is Government? blow up the stereotype of the irrelevant bureaucrat. They show how the essential business of government makes our lives possible, and how much it matters.

©2025 Michael Lewis (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"This eye-opening, multifaceted ode to public service. . . feels both urgent and moving."—The Guardian

"A spirited rebuttal to the canard that federal civil servants are nest-featherers up to no good. . . . All the contributions. . . press the point that the government’s work is useful—and no one else but government workers are likely to do it. Compelling arguments against ideologues bent on dismantling the government."—Kirkus Reviews

Great listen but side-steps critical questions

This book does a great job telling interesting vignettes of exceptional public servants doing valuable work. These public servants are by no means average and hardly representative of the average value for money taxpayers are getting from their government.

This book makes the reader believe that government spending is a good investment. But a good investment when compared to what? What tradeoffs are we making because we chose to fund this bureaucracy— and are we better, or worse-off because of it?

Money returned to taxpayers is also valuable; as is solving the same problem the government is trying to solve — better and cheaper — in the private sector. These second, and weightier, questions are side-stepped throughout this book.

An interesting read but it misses these core questions — plus, I would have opted for professional narrators for Audible. Some of the voices were a bit grating, reducing enjoyment.

Very well written and read

It was nice to hear each author read the pieces. Well worth listening to and thinking about.

The breadth of magnificent work across government.

This is an absolutely magnificent collection of vignettes about the contributions of government employees in diverse areas we don’t usually think of. As heart warming as these accounts are, one cannot escape the awareness that is exactly these things that Musk and DOGE are deliberately trying to destroy.

Real Bureaucrats

Putting human faces on the false image of Federal bureaucracy . Documenting what is being destroyed by DOGE.

Unsung Heroes Minus Ego

At a time when the Trump administration is using a chainsaw to cut government spending, little effort is made to study and understand what federal workers do, and whether their important, necessary and cost effective.
This book underscores why it is important to truly understand what each federal worker does. Taxpayers generally have little understanding of the myriad services performed by government that makes life safer and more enjoyable.
Reading this book made want to push elected officials to consider fair taxation rather than wholesale cutting of federal workers and needed services.
This book should be required reading in high schools and colleges, along with a new emphasis on civics.

A Must Read!

Stories highlighting how important civil servants are to all of us. I shed tears especially as that civil service is now in jeopardy.

Cheers for the unsung heroes

We can’t all be super heroes, but there are many more of them living amongst us than one would guess. It’s wonderful to hear their stories. More please.

Great stories of individual contributions

There are some great individual stories about government employees who have done some amazing work behind the scenes.
Some of the narrators are very annoying to listen to. Some are great.

Enlightened

I thought the entirety of the information on government agencies were incredible. I was blown away. Everyone should read at least one of these stories and their view of government agencies will be forever changed.

So beautiful it made me cry.

I love it all, especially the last story. What an amazing find and there it may stay if others don't find this book. Just as invisible as the unrecognized heros in our federal agencies have been, this book comes at a time when we all have to reject the assaults on the "deep state". The Republican assaults is revealing just how important the federal bureaucracy is in our lives.