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Title details for Twilight of the Elites by Chris Hayes - Available

Twilight of the Elites

America After Meritocracy

by Chris Hayes
Chris Hayes
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A powerful and original argument that traces the roots of our present crisis of authority to an unlikely source: the meritocracy.
Over the past decade, Americans watched in bafflement and rage as one institution after another –  from Wall Street to Congress, the Catholic Church to corporate America, even Major League Baseball – imploded under the weight of corruption and incompetence. In the wake of the Fail Decade, Americans have historically low levels of trust in their institutions; the social contract between ordinary citizens and elites lies in tatters.
How did we get here? With Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes offers a radically novel answer. Since the 1960s, as the meritocracy elevated a more diverse group of men and women into power, they learned to embrace the accelerating inequality that had placed them near the very top. Their ascension heightened social distance and spawned a new American elite—one more prone to failure and corruption than any that came before it.
Mixing deft political analysis, timely social commentary, and deep historical understanding, Twilight of the Elites describes how the society we have come to inhabit – utterly forgiving at the top and relentlessly punitive at the bottom – produces leaders who are out of touch with the people they have been trusted to govern. Hayes argues that the public's failure to trust the federal government, corporate America, and the media has led to a crisis of authority that threatens to engulf not just our politics but our day-to-day lives.
Upending well-worn ideological and partisan categories, Hayes entirely reorients our perspective on our times. Twilight of the Elites is the defining work of social criticism for the post-bailout age.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 12, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780449010082
      • File size: 206810 KB
      • Duration: 07:10:51

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Hayes argues that our society suffers from institutional failure and lack of trust in institutions because our elites, isolated and spoiled, fight against losing privileges; meritocracy has undone itself. He reads with energy and urgency, but, perhaps due to his passion for the topic, he sometimes verges on stridency, as if belaboring the listener, a disservice to an intelligent and thoughtful text. His energy, perhaps, and his familiarity with the text often lead him to read too quickly, making listeners race to keep up, rather than being able to digest his insights and arguments. In his rush, he regularly renders words sloppily or swallows parts of them. Still, he does get this smart and timely book across, and it deserves a hearing. W.M. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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