Democracy in Chains:
the deep history of the radical right's stealth plan for America

£12.99 GBP

Democracy in Chains:
the deep history of the radical right's stealth plan for America

Overview

An explosive exposé of the man who devoted his career to shackling democracy — and succeeded.

Libertarian billionaires are using their wealth and power to drastically curtail the US democratic process, disempowering ordinary citizens whilst entrenching the influence of corporations as never before. In Democracy in Chains, award-winning historian Nancy MacLean reveals how the ideas of Nobel Prize-winning political economist James McGill Buchanan have been used to undermine the power of voters in a country whose Constitution is founded on the principle ‘We the people’.

Now, with Mike Pence as Vice President, this chilling movement has a loyalist in the White House, as well as supporters in the House, the Senate, a majority of state governments, and the courts. Democracy in Chains is a timely, important book, which should be read by anybody interested in the future of democracy.

Details

Format
Paperback
Size
198mm x 129mm
Extent
368 pages
ISBN
9781911344681
RRP
GBP£12.99
Pub date
27 July 2017
Other rights
Viking — NA

Awards

  • Shortlisted for the 2017 National Book Awards
  • Winner of the 2017 LA Times Book Prize, Current Interest
  • Winner of the 2018 Lillian Smith Book Award
  • Winner of the 2017 <i>The Nation</i>‘s ‘Most Valuable Book’

Praise

‘It’s the missing chapter: a key to understanding the politics of the past half century. To read Nancy MacLean’s new book, Democracy in Chains is to see what was previously invisible.’

George MonbiotThe Guardian

'It’s happening: the subversion of our democratic system from within. How did the political right do it? Nancy MacLean tells the long-overlooked story of the political economist who developed the playbook for the Koch brothers. James McGill Buchanan merged states rights’ thinking with free market principles and helped to fashion the inherently elitist ideology of today’s Republican Party. Professor MacLean’s meticulous research and shrewd insights make this a must-read for all who believe in government ‘by the people.'

Nancy Isenberg, author of White Trash: the 400-year untold history of class in America
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About the Author

Nancy MacLean is the award-winning author of Behind the Mask of Chivalry (a New York Times ‘noteworthy’ book of the year) and Freedom is Not Enough, which was called by the Chicago Tribune ‘contemporary history at its best.’ The William Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University, she lives in Durham, North Carolina.
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