Reviews
"This is a transformative book. It's the best book on American politics that I've read since Before the Storm. . . If it has the impact it deserves, it will transform American public arguments about politics and policymaking."- Henry Farrell, Crookedtimber.org, "Hacker and Pierson deftly pose and solve a political mystery: How could our democracy have turned away from a politics of broadly shared prosperity that served most citizens? Clue: take a close look at the elite capture of the Democratic Party. Winner-Take-All Politics --stylishly written and well documented with evidence--is a must-read for understanding the great political puzzle of our time."-- Robert Kuttner, author of A Presidency in Peril and co-editor of The American Prospect, "This is a transformative book. It's the best book on American politics that I've read sinceBefore the Storm. . . .If it has the impact it deserves, it will transform American public arguments about politics and policymaking."--Henry Farrell, Crookedtimber.org, "The worst social change in America during my lifetime has been its shift from the land of middle-class opportunity to the land of super-rich privilege. The economic polarization of America is a familiar problem, but Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson approach it in an original way, using detective-story procedure to identify an unsuspected culprit -- one that has little to do with 'globalization' or 'technological revolution' or China or the like. Their case is convincing, and it builds to a recommendation of how Americans could organize to save their country's promise. I hope people read the book and follow its advice."?--James Fallows, "Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson brilliantly break the intellectual logjam over the causes of runaway inequality. Their findings put responsibility and control back into the hands of officeholders, elected and appointed.Winner-Take-All Politicsis crucial reading for all those engaged in American politics."? --Thomas B. Edsall, political editor, Huffington Post, and correspondent,The New Republic, "Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson brilliantly break the intellectual logjam over the causes of runaway inequality. Their findings put responsibility and control back into the hands of officeholders, elected and appointed. Winner-Take-All Politics is crucial reading for all those engaged in American politics." -Thomas B. Edsall, political editor, Huffington Post, and correspondent, The New Republic, "How the U.S. economic system has also moved 'off center' toward an extreme concentration of wealth, and how progressive efforts to reverse that trend have run aground. . . . A very valuable book." -Ed Kilgore, Washington Monthly, "Two top political scientists tell us when America turned terribly wrong-and how the rich and powerful organized to do the turning. . . . Fascinating."- Sam Pizzigagi, "Too Much," an online newsletter of the Institute for Policy Studies, "The worst social change in America during my lifetime has been its shift from the land of middle-class opportunity to the land of super-rich privilege. The economic polarization of America is a familiar problem, but Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson approach it in an original way, using detective-story procedure to identify an unsuspected culprit-one that has little to do with 'globalization' or 'technological revolution' or China or the like. Their case is convincing, and it builds to a recommendation of how Americans could organize to save their country's promise. I hope people read the book and follow its advice." -James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic, "Over the past generation, the middle class has been repeatedly battered, and its once-solid foundations have begun to tremble. Uncovering the hidden political story behind this great economic challenge, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson shed light on what has gone wrong-and why. Their book is must-reading for anyone who wants to understand how Washington stopped working for the middle class."- Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the U.S. banking bailout, and author of The Two-Income Trap, "How the U.S. economic system has also moved 'off center' toward an extreme concentration of wealth, and how progressive efforts to reverse that trend have run aground. . . . A very valuable book."--Ed Kilgore,Washington Monthly, "Two top political scientists tell us when America turned terribly wrong--and how the rich and powerful organized to do the turning. . . . Fascinating."-- Sam Pizzigagi, "Too Much," an online newsletter of the Institute for Policy Studies, "Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson combine enormous learning about how our political system actually works with a spritely facility for getting their ideas across-rare gifts in American political debate.Winner-Take-All Politicscarries forward the argument from their path-breaking bookOff-Center.It explains why the 2006 and 2008 elections only began a reform process that still has a ways to go. Hacker and Pierson have always stayed ahead of the conventional arguments andWinner-Take-All Politicskeeps them in the lead."-- E.J. Dionne, Jr., author ofWhy Americans Hate PoliticsandSouled Out, "Important. . . . The collapse of the American middle class and the huge transfer of wealth to the already wealthy is the biggest domestic story of our time." -Jonathan Alter, The New York Times Book Review, "Hacker and Pierson make a compelling case. If Marie Antoinette were alive, she might aver of today's great economically challenged masses, 'Let them nibble on passbook-savings-account interest'-if they can manage to save anything, that is."- David Holahan, The Christian Science Monitor, "Must reading for anyone who wants to understand how Washington stopped working for the middle class." Elizabeth Warren, Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "Hacker and Pierson make a compelling case. If Marie Antoinette were alive, she might aver of today's great economically challenged masses, 'Let them nibble on passbook-savings-account interest'--if they can manage to save anything, that is."-- David Holahan, The Christian Science Monitor, "The clearest explanation yet of the forces that converged over the past three decades or so to undermine the economic well-being of ordinary Americans is contained in Winner-Take-All Politics ." --Bob Herbert, The New York Times, Advance Praise forWinner-Take-All Politics"The worst social change in America during my lifetime has been its shift from the land of middle-class opportunity to the land of super-rich privilege. The economic polarization of America is a familiar problem, but Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson approach it in an original way, using detective-story procedure to identify an unsuspected culprit -- one that has little to do with 'globalization' or 'technological revolution' or China or the like. Their case is convincing, and it builds to a recommendation of how Americans could organize to save their country's promise. I hope people read the book and follow its advice."?--James Fallows, National Correspondent,The Atlantic, 'Exciting and fluent second novel'breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players.' —The Independent(London), " Winner Take All Politics is a powerfully argued book about a critically important subject, and I guarantee you it will make you think." --Fareed Zakaria, GPN (CNN show), "Hacker and Pierson deftly pose and solve a political mystery: How could our democracy have turned away from a politics of broadly shared prosperity that served most citizens? Clue: take a close look at the elite capture of the Democratic Party.Winner-Take-All Politics-stylishly written and well documented with evidence-is a must-read for understanding the great political puzzle of our time."--Robert Kuttner, author ofA Presidency in Periland co-editor ofThe American Prospect, "Over the past generation, the middle class has been repeatedly battered, and its once-solid foundations have begun to tremble. Uncovering the hidden political story behind this great economic challenge, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson shed light on what has gone wrong--and why. Their book is must-reading for anyone who wants to understand how Washington stopped working for the middle class."-- Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the U.S. banking bailout, and author of The Two-Income Trap, "The sharp increase in inequality is one of the key issues before the nation. In recent years, the debate has effectively stagnated with widespread acceptance of the view that rising inequality is the inevitable byproduct of technological innovation, globalization, and theconsequent premium placed on higher education. Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson brilliantly break that intellectual logjam. Their findings put responsibility and control back into the hands of officeholders, elected and appointed.Winner-Take-All Politicsis crucial reading for all those engaged in American politics."? --Thomas B. Edsall, political editor, Huffington Post, and correspondent,The New Republic, "Hacker and Pierson deftly pose and solve a political mystery: How could our democracy have turned away from a politics of broadly shared prosperity that served most citizens? Clue: take a close look at the elite capture of the Democratic Party. Winner-Take-All Politics -stylishly written and well documented with evidence-is a must-read for understanding the great political puzzle of our time."- Robert Kuttner, author of A Presidency in Peril and co-editor of The American Prospect, "Important. . . . The collapse of the American middle class and the huge transfer of wealth to the already wealthy is the biggest domestic story of our time."--Jonathan Alter,The New York Times Book Review, "Buy a copy of Hacker and Pierson's book and read it. Seriously. . . . This is the most complete and sustained explanation I've ever read of why, over the past 30 years, America has gone the direction it has even while most other countries haven't. . . . For me, it was a 300-page 'Aha!' moment."--Kevin Drum, Mother Jones blog, "Important. . . . The collapse of the American middle class and the huge transfer of wealth to the already wealthy is the biggest domestic story of our time.... The good news reported by Hacker and Pierson is that American wealth disparities - are not the residue of globalization or technology or anything else beyond our control. There's nothing inevitable about them. They're the result of politics and policies, which tilted toward the rich beginning in the 1970s and can, with enough effort, be tilted back over time (emphasis added for impatient liberals)" -Jonathan Alter, The New York Times Book Review, "The clearest explanation yet of the forces that converged over the past three decades or so to undermine the economic well-being of ordinary Americans." Bob Herbert, The New York Times, "This is a transformative book. It's the best book on American politics that I've read since Before the Storm. . . If it has the impact it deserves, it will transform American public arguments about politics and policymaking."-- Henry Farrell, Crookedtimber.org, "Buy a copy of Hacker and Pierson's book and read it. Seriously. . . . This is the most complete and sustained explanation I've ever read of why, over the past 30 years, America has gone the direction it has even while most other countries haven't. . . . For me, it was a 300-page 'Aha!' moment."-- Kevin Drum, Mother Jones, "Over the past generation, the middle class has been repeatedly battered, and its once-solid foundations have begun to tremble. Uncovering the hidden political story behind this great economic challenge, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson shed light on what has gone wrong--and why. Their book is must-reading for anyone who wants to understand how Washington stopped working for the middle class."-- Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the U.S. banking bailout, and author of The Two-Income Trap, "This book is a wake-up call. Read it and wake up." Robert Solow, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 1987, "The Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson of political science, Jacob Hacker of Yale and Paul Pierson of Berkeley, about how Washington served the rich in the last 30 years and turned its back on the middle class. They're marvelous…"- Bill Moyers, "The clearest explanation yet of the forces that converged over the past three decades or so to undermine the economic well-being of ordinary Americans is contained in Winner-Take-All Politics."--Bob Herbert,The New York Times, "Over the past generation, the middle class has been repeatedly battered, and its once-solid foundations have begun to tremble.'Uncovering the hidden political story behind this great economic challenge, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson shed light on what has gone wrong-and why.'Their book is must-reading for anyone who wants to understand how Washington stopped working for the middle class."?--Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the U.S. banking bailout, and author ofThe Two-Income Trap, 'Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation.' —Scotsman on Sunday, "Important. . . . The collapse of the American middle class and the huge transfer of wealth to the already wealthy is the biggest domestic story of our time." --Jonathan Alter, The New York Times Book Review, "Buy a copy of Hacker and Pierson's book and read it. Seriously. . . . This is the most complete and sustained explanation I've ever read of why, over the past 30 years, America has gone the direction it has even while most other countries haven't. . . . For me, it was a 300-page 'Aha!' moment."- Kevin Drum, Mother Jones, "Hacker and Pierson argue strongly that the concentration of income at the top is not just the work of deep economic forces. It is aided and abetted by politicians who favor the very rich or allow policies that once favored the rest of us to erode. Hacker and Pierson look closely, sharply, and entertainingly at the way that interest-group politics and the political power of money have allowed this travesty of democracy to happen. This book is a wake-up call. Read it and wake up." -Robert Solow, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 1987, "How can hedge-fund managers who are pulling down billions sometimes pay a lower tax-rate than do their secretaries?' ask the political scientists Jacob S. Hacker (of Yale) and Paul Pierson (University of California, Berkeley) in their deservedly lauded new book, Winner-Take-All Politics . If you want to cry real tears about the American dream-as opposed to the self-canonizing tears of John Boehner-read this book and weep. The authors' answer to that question and others amount to a devastating indictment of both parties.... The book deflates much of the conventional wisdom."- Frank Rich, The New York Times, "Hacker and Pierson make a compelling case. If Marie Antoinette were alive, she might aver of today's great economically challenged masses, 'Let them nibble on passbook-savings-account interest' - if they can manage to save anything, that is."--David Holahan,The Christian Science Monitor, " Winner Take All Politics is a powerfully argued book about a critically important subject, and I guarantee you it will make you think."- Fareed Zakaria, GPN (CNN show), Advance Praise for?WINNER-TAKE-ALL POLITICS'"Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson combine enormous learning about how our political system actually works with a spritely facility for getting their ideas across-rare gifts in American political debate.Winner-Take-All Politicscarries forward the argument from their path-breaking bookOff-Center.It explains why the 2006 and 2008 elections only began a reform process that still has a ways to go. Hacker and Pierson have always stayed ahead of the conventional arguments andWinner-Take-All Politicskeeps them in the lead."-- E.J. Dionne, Jr., author ofWhy Americans Hate PoliticsandSouled Out, "Hacker and Pierson argue strongly that the concentration of income at the top is not just the work of deep economic forces. It is aided and abetted by politicians who favor the very rich or allow policies that once favored the rest of us to erode. Hacker and Pierson look closely, sharply, and entertainingly at the way that interest-group politics and the political power of money have allowed this travesty of democracy to happen. This book is a wake-up call. Read it and wake up."--Robert Solow, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 1987, "Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson brilliantly break the intellectual logjam over the causes of runaway inequality. Their findings put responsibility and control back into the hands of officeholders, elected and appointed. Winner-Take-All Politics is crucial reading for all those engaged in American politics." --Thomas B. Edsall, political editor, Huffington Post, and correspondent, The New Republic, "Hacker and Pierson argue strongly that the concentration of income at the top is not just the work of deep economic forces. It is aided and abetted by politicians who favor the very rich or allow policies that once favored the rest of us to erode. Hacker and Pierson look closely, sharply, and entertainingly at the way that interest-group politics and the political power of money have allowed this travesty of democracy to happen. This book is a wake-up call. Read it and wake up." --Robert Solow, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 1987, "This is a transformative book. It's the best book on American politics that I've read since Before the Storm. . . If it has the impact it deserves, it will transform American public arguments about politics and policymaking."-- Henry Farrell, Crookedtimber.org, "How the U.S. economic system has also moved 'off center' toward an extreme concentration of wealth, and how progressive efforts to reverse that trend have run aground. . . . A very valuable book." --Ed Kilgore, Washington Monthly, "Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson combine enormous learning about how our political system actually works with a spritely facility for getting their ideas across--rare gifts in American political debate. Winner-Take-All Politics carries forward the argument from their path-breaking book Off-Center. It explains why the 2006 and 2008 elections only began a reform process that still has a ways to go. Hacker and Pierson have always stayed ahead of the conventional arguments and Winner-Take-All Politics keeps them in the lead."-- E.J. Dionne, Jr., author of Why Americans Hate Politics and Souled Out, "Engrossing. . . . Hacker and Pierson . . . deliver the goods. . . . Their description of the organizational dynamics that have tilted economic policymaking in favor of the wealthy is convincing."- Justin Fox, Harvard Business Review, "The worst social change in America during my lifetime has been its shift from the land of middle-class opportunity to the land of super-rich privilege. The economic polarization of America is a familiar problem, but Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson approach it in an original way, using detective-story procedure to identify an unsuspected culprit--one that has little to do with 'globalization' or 'technological revolution' or China or the like. Their case is convincing, and it builds to a recommendation of how Americans could organize to save their country's promise. I hope people read the book and follow its advice." --James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic, "Engrossing. . . . Hacker and Pierson . . . deliver the goods. . . . Their description of the organizational dynamics that have tilted economic policymaking in favor of the wealthy is convincing."-- Justin Fox, Harvard Business Review, "The clearest explanation yet of the forces that converged over the past three decades or so to undermine the economic well-being of ordinary Americans is contained in Winner-Take-All Politics ." -Bob Herbert, The New York Times, "Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson combine enormous learning about how our political system actually works with a spritely facility for getting their ideas across-rare gifts in American political debate. Winner-Take-All Politics carries forward the argument from their path-breaking book Off-Center. It explains why the 2006 and 2008 elections only began a reform process that still has a ways to go. Hacker and Pierson have always stayed ahead of the conventional arguments and Winner-Take-All Politics keeps them in the lead."- E.J. Dionne, Jr., author of Why Americans Hate Politics and Souled Out, "Engrossing. . . . Hacker and Pierson . . . deliver the goods. . . . Their description of the organizational dynamics that have tilted economic policymaking in favor of the wealthy is convincing."--Justin Fox,Harvard Business Review
