Random House
September 2012
On Sale: September 11, 2012
592 pages ISBN: 1400069661 EAN: 9781400069668 Kindle: B007MEWAX2 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
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 bestselling 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 beforethe 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.
Smith talks to a wide range of
people, telling the stories of Americans high and low. From
political leaders such as Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and
Martin Luther King, Jr., to CEOs such as Al Dunlap, Bob
Galvin, and Andy Grove, to heartland Middle Americans such
as airline mechanic Pat O’Neill, software systems manager
Kristine Serrano, small businessman John Terboss, and
subcontractor Eliseo Guardado, Smith puts a human face on
how middle-class America and the American Dream have been
undermined.
This magnificent work of history
and reportage is filled with the penetrating insights,
provocative discoveries, and the great empathy of a master
journalist. Finally, Smith offers ideas for restoring
America’s great promise and reclaiming the American Dream.
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