Tailspin

The People and Forces Behind America's Fifty-Year Fall - and Those Fighting to Reverse It

By: Steven Brill

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

In this revelatory narrative covering the years 1967 to 2017, Steven Brill gives us a stunningly cogent picture of the broken system at the heart of our society. He shows us how, over the last half-century, America's core values - meritocracy, innovation, due process, free speech, and even democracy itself - have somehow managed to power its decline into dysfunction. They have isolated our best and brightest, whose positions at the top have never been more secure or more remote. The result has been an erosion of responsibility and accountability, an epidemic of shortsightedness, an increasingly hollow economic and political center, and millions of Americans gripped by apathy and hopelessness.

By examining the people and forces behind the rise of big-money lobbying, legal and financial engineering, the demise of private-sector unions, and a hamstrung bureaucracy, Brill answers the question on everyone's mind: How did we end up this way? Finally, he introduces us to those working quietly and effectively to repair the damages.

At once a diagnosis of our national ills, a history of their development, and a prescription for a brighter future, Tailspin is a work of riveting journalism - and a welcome antidote to political despair.

©2018 Steven Brill (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Persuasive, bracing...an essential read if you want to understand the pressures that have brought a sclerotic Uncle Sam to his knees." (Alexander C. Kafka, Los Angeles Review of Books)

“Tailspin distinguishes itself within the America Gone Wrong genre.... All of the book’s chapters on the law crackle with energy.... In a downbeat era, Tailspin offers some modest ammunition for hope.” (Daniel W. Drezner, The New York Times Book Review)

"Steven Brill's Tailspin does precisely what the daily torrent of news does not: make sense. The book is nothing less than a unified (and persuasive) theory of everything - including politics, business, culture - and it even includes several glimmers of hope amid the pervasive darkness." (Jeffrey Toobin, author of American Heiress)

Get ready to take back our country!

This was a well-written and researched macro perspective at the policies and leaders over the past 50 years and how it has led to (intended or not) consequences many of us now at the height of feeling the effects. Day to day news consumption is overwhelming in what each move or decision actually means, so to have a fact based view point from the last 5 decades gives the perspective we all need to start being active and well-educated in selecting our leaders. It takes very difficult concepts for regular Americans to digest, or even want to discuss, and brings them to light in a way that it can be conceived by all who are willing. Worth the read for everyone living in a democracy!

Maddeningly accurate!

This should be a must read for all Americans. If you are not furious by the end of the book, you missed the point. Our country has been stolen from us and Brill does a great job of telling us how it was done. Worth the time!!

Good Analysis, Backed by Data & Stories

“Tailspin” provides more than just a compelling narrative about how “We the People “ became “Us v Them,” over the course of some 50 years. Brill chronicles the hollowing out of America’s production capacity (and the good jobs), in exchange for (in the words of Simon & Garfunkel) “A pocketful of mumbles, such are promises.”

Brill’s narrative rings true. We have work to do!

Time to stop hitting the snooze button.

For years I convinced myself that just showing up and voting was enough. Not only was it not enough, but given the political/social anti democratic structural forces outlined in Tailspin, just voting may have been a waste of time. It is obvious to me now that my vote must be the result of being a part of a sustainable movement for concrete measures to improve life on this planet. This book outlined many, many of what should have been wake up calls, but me and those like me, just kept hitting the snooze button.

Speechless

Felt like my intellectual horizon has been expanded even while having many disagreements! A book for people of all political stripes!

constantly skipping choppy listening exp

a good book too bad it lacks flow due to skips in narratio patterns. had to piece segments together at times to complete thoughts and ideas presented

Required reading for all running for public office

This book contains the necessary talking points for Democratics to win in '18. We should All read it, but if the content was used correctly by candidates, they'd win in a landslide. Bravo!

Non-partisan wake up call

This is a well researched and thorough book. It brings a lot of info I was familiar with together, and puts it together with a lot of new-to-me information. Together, these threads are woven into a very informative picture of extreme importance to our country. Every person who cares about the US and the future of democracy needs to read or listen to this book. Don’t miss it.

America laid bare

One of the best books I've ever read on politics and ideas for change in America.
5 stars

good but flawed

Excellent explanation of most of the problems, but ultimately it is ridiculously overly optimistic -- so much so that it comes across as a justification for high end third-way/bipartisan DC fundraisers than it does like a real path forward.